Chapter X: The Means of Universal Education (3)

_Normal schools are essential_ to the complete success of any system of popular education. The necessity for their establishment can not fail to be apparent to any one at all competent to judge, when he considers the early age at which young persons of both sexes generally enter upon the business of school-teaching--or, perhaps I may more appropriately say, of "keeping" school; for the majority of them can hardly be regarded as competent to _teach_.

For the purpose of being more specific, and of impressing, if possible, upon the mind of the reader, the necessity of professional instruction, the author trusts he will be pardoned for introducing a few paragraphs from a report made nine years ago as county superintendent of common schools in the State of New York and which was printed at that time in the Assembly documents of that state. The author, at the time referred to, exercised a general supervision over more than twenty thousand children, aided in the examination of the teachers of twenty large townships, and visited and inspected their schools. Nine years' additional experience--four of which have been devoted to the supervision of the schools of a large state, and a considerable portion of the remaining time to the visitation of schools in different states--has convinced him that the condition of common schools, and the qualifications of teachers in those states of the Union where increased attention has not been bestowed upon the subject within a few years past, are not in advance of what they were at that time in the county referred to. The paragraphs introduced are included within brackets.

[LITERARY QUALIFICATIONS.--Some of the teachers possess a very limited knowledge of the branches usually taught in our common schools. This is true even of a portion of those who have bestowed considerable attention upon some of the higher branches of study. There is in our common schools, and indeed in our higher schools, an undue anxiety to advance rapidly. A score of persons may be heard speaking of the number of their recitations, of their rapid progress, and perhaps of skipping difficulties, while hardly _one_ will speak of progressing _understandingly_, and comprehending _every principle_ as he proceeds. When students speak of their progress in study, their first qualifying word should be _thorough_, after which, if they please, they may add _rapid_.

The following circumstances, that have occurred in classes of both ladies and gentlemen who have presented themselves for examination as candidates for teaching, illustrate the nature and extent of the evil. I have more than once received, in answer to the question "What is language?" the following reply: "Language is an _unlimited sense_." I have met with some experienced teachers, holding two or three town certificates, who did not know one half of the marks and pauses used in writing. They could, indeed, generally recite the answers in the spelling-book with some degree of accuracy; but when the marks have been pointed out, and their names and use have been asked, teachers _in service_ have sometimes mistaken the note of _interrogation_ for a _parenthesis_, and made other as gross errors. In answer to the question "What is arithmetic?" I have several times received the following reply: "It is the _art of science_," etc. Sometimes this constitutes the entire reply. In one instance _four fifths_ of the class united in this answer. The terms sum, remainder, product, and quotient are frequently applied indiscriminately in the four ground rules of arithmetic. There are, hence, three chances for them to be used erroneously where there is one chance for them to be correctly applied. The following expressions are common: _Add_ up and set down the _remainder_; _subtract_ and set down the _quotient_; _multiply_ and write down the _sum_; _divide_ and write down the _product_, etc.: never so much as thinking that sum belongs to addition; remainder, to subtraction; product, to multiplication; and quotient, to division. In attending the examination of such teachers, any person of discernment will soon become satisfied that with them "language is an unlimited sense;" that "arithmetic is the art _of_ science;" and that grammar, too, is "the art of science;" for the same answer has been given to the question, "What is grammar?" I introduce these things, not for the purpose of ridiculing any portion of our teachers, but to exemplify the extent of the evil under consideration.

The majority of teachers manifest a tolerable familiarity with the branches usually taught in our common schools. They have not, however, generally studied more than one author on the same subject.

A portion of our teachers, it gives me pleasure to add, are not only superior scholars in the common English branches, but they have made respectable attainments in philosophy, astronomy, chemistry, algebra, Latin, etc. All of these branches are successfully taught in a few of our schools.

SCHOOL GOVERNMENT.--There is, perhaps, as wide a difference in the administration of government in our common schools as in any other particular connected with them. Good government requires the healthful exercise of a rare combination of good qualities. But this can not reasonably be expected in inexperienced youth, who, instead of being guided by enlightened moral sentiment, have not only never subjected _themselves_ to government, but are totally unacquainted with the principles upon which it should be administered. About one third of our schools are tolerably well governed. A portion of them are under a wise and parental supervision, the government being uniformly mild, and at the same time efficient. But indecision, rashness, and inefficiency are far more common. Sometimes teachers resolve to have no whispering, leaving seats, asking questions, etc., among any of the scholars, and severely punish every detected offender. Soon a portion of the patrons justly manifest dissatisfaction. Then all attempts to govern the school are unwisely given up. Many teachers thus rashly fly from one extreme of government to the other, without stopping to test the "golden mean," or even appearing to bestow a single thought upon the subject.

Again: the feelings of the teacher have been outraged by having frequently witnessed severity, and even cruelty, in government; and, in studiously avoiding them, he has inadvertently adopted a lax government, if government it may be called. The latter may be the more amiable extreme, but it is hardly the less fatal. I have heard scholars say in the presence of such a teacher, "We have a good teacher, who gives us all the good advice we need, and then lets us do as we please;" and then I have witnessed whispering, talking, chewing gum and throwing it about the house, passing from seat to seat, playing with tops and whirls, tossing wads of wet paper about the house and to the ceiling, cutting images upon the desks, imitating the practice of botanic physicians, exhibiting and passing from one to another roots and herbs, and discoursing upon their properties, chasing mice about the house, and in some instances slaying them, and practicing sundry other antics too numerous to be mentioned. Good advice was freely given, but it was disregarded with impunity.

Government in school, as elsewhere, should be mild but efficient. The teacher should speak kindly, but with authority. Every request should meet with a ready compliance. The scholars will not only fear to disobey such a teacher, but will, at the same time, respect, and even love him. This is not only good theory, but is susceptible of being reduced to practice. It is, indeed, exemplified in many of our schools, as a visit to them will clearly manifest. I know of no one thing in school government more mischievous in its tendency than the habit of speaking several times without being obeyed.

MODE OF INSTRUCTION.--In some schools the instruction is thorough and systematic. In them the scholars generally learn _principles_, and understand, and are able to explain, all that they pass over. But this is the case in comparatively few schools. Scholars generally are poorly instructed, and understand very imperfectly what they profess to have learned. I will give a few illustrations:

_First._ Scholars are frequently introduced to the twenty-six letters of the alphabet four times a day for several weeks in succession, without making a single acquaintance. They occasionally become so familiar with their names and order as to repeat them down and back, as well without the book as with it, before learning a single letter.

This method of instruction is as unphilosophical as it is unsuccessful. Were I to be introduced to twenty-six strangers, and were my introducer to pronounce their names in rapid succession down and back, giving me merely an opportunity of pronouncing them after him, I should hardly expect to form a _single acquaintance with twenty-six introductions_. But were he to introduce me to one, and give me an opportunity of shaking hands with him, of conversing with him, of observing his features, etc.; and were he then to introduce me to another, in like manner, with the privilege of shaking hands again with the first, before my introduction to the third; and were he thus to introduce me to them all successively, I might form _twenty-six acquaintances with one introduction_.

The application is readily made. Introduce the abecedarian to but _one_ letter at first. Describe it to him familiarly. Fix its contour distinctly in his mind. Compare it with things with which he is acquainted, if it will admit of such comparison. It might be well to make the letter upon a slate or black-board. When he shall have become acquainted with _one_ letter so as to know it any where, introduce him to another. After he becomes acquainted with the second, let him again point out the first. As he learns new letters, he will thus retain a knowledge of those he has previously learned. It is immaterial where we commence, provided two conditions are fulfilled. It would be well to have the first letters as simple in their construction, and as easily described, as possible. It would be well, also, to have them so selected as to combine and form simple words, with which the child is familiar. He will thus become encouraged in his first efforts.

Suppose we commence with O, and tell the child that it is _round_; that it is shaped like the _button_ on his coat, or like a _penny_, which might be shown to him. After the child has become somewhat familiar with its _shape_ and _name_, suppose we inquire what there was on the breakfast table shaped like O. It may be necessary to name a few articles, as knives, forks, spoons, plates. Before there is time to proceed further, the child, in nine cases out of ten, will say, "The _plates_ look like O." Suppose we next take X, which may be represented by crossing the fore-fingers, or two little sticks. We can now teach the child that these two letters, combined, spell _ox_. We might then tell him a familiar story about _oxen_; that we put a _yoke_ on them; that they draw the cart, etc.; and that _cart-wheels_ are _great_ O's. Suppose we take B next. We might tell the child that it is a straight line with two bows on the right side of it, and that it is shaped some like the _ox-yoke_. We might then instruct him that these three letters, B, O, and X, combined, spell _box_; that its top and sides are rectangles, and that its ends are squares, if they are so. The child has now learned three letters, two words, and a score of ideas. He, moreover, likes to go to school. Any other method in which children would be equally interested might be pursued instead of this, which is only introduced as a _specimen_ of the manner in which the alphabet has been successfully taught.[74] Better methods may be devised.

[74] Since these suggestions were first given to the public, several
excellent books for children have been published, constructed on a
similar plan to that here recommended. It will generally be found
advantageous to teach the vowels first, and then to teach such
consonants as combine with the _long sound_ of the vowel; as, for
example, first o; then g, h, l, n, and s, when the child can read go,
ho, lo, no, and so. After this, e may be learned, and then b, m, and s,
when the child can read be, bee, me, and see. Then these may be combined
as see me; lo, see me; see me ho; lo, see me ho, etc. The idea is, that
every letter and combination of letters be used as fast they are
learned.

_Second._ The Roman notation table is sometimes taught after the same manner. After spelling, I have heard the teacher say to the class, One I.? to which the scholar at the head would reply, one; and the exercise would continue through the class, as follows: two I.'s? two; three I.'s? three; IV.? four; and so on, to two X.'s? twenty; three X.'s? twenty-one. No, says the teacher, _thirty_. Thus corrected, the class went through the entire table, without making another mistake. The thought occurred to me that they did not _know_ their lesson, though they had _recited_ it, making but _one_ mistake. With the permission of the teacher, I inquired of the class, "What does IV. stand for?" None of them could tell. I then inquired, "What do VII. stand for?" They all shook their heads. I next inquired, "What does IX. stand for?" and the teacher remarked, "_They have just got it learnt the other way; they ha'n't learnt it that way yet._" They had all learned to _count_; they hence recited correctly to twenty; and when told that three X.'s stand for _thirty_ instead of _twenty-one_, they passed on readily to forty, fifty, sixty, etc., without making another mistake. And this, too, is but a _specimen_ of the evil.

In teaching this table, the child should be instructed, in the beginning, that there are but seven letters used, by which all numbers may be represented; that when standing alone, I. represents _one_; V., _five_; X., _ten_; L., _fifty_; C, _one hundred_; D., _five hundred_; and M., _one thousand_. The child should next be taught that, as often as a letter is repeated, so many times its _value_ is repeated; thus, X. represents _ten_; two X.'s, _twenty_; three X.'s, _thirty_, etc.; that when a letter representing a _less_ number is placed _after_ one representing a _greater_, its value is to be _added_; thus, VII. represent _seven_; LX., _sixty_, etc.; that when a letter representing a _less_ number is placed _before_ one representing a _greater_, its value is to be _subtracted_; thus, IV. represents _four_; IX., _nine_; XL., _forty_, etc. When the child understands what is here presented, he has the key to the whole matter. He is acquainted with the principle upon which the tables are constructed, and a little practice will enable him to apply it, as well to what is _not_ in the table as to what _is_ in it. I have known scholars study that table faithfully _four months_, and then have but an imperfect knowledge of what was _in the book_. I have known others who, with _one hour's_ study, after _five minutes'_ instruction in the principles here laid down, understood the table perfectly, and could recite it, without making a single mistake, even before they had studied the whole of it _once over_.

_Third._ The manner in which _reading_ is generally taught is hardly superior to the modes of instruction already considered. In many instances, commendable effort is made to secure correct pronunciation, and a proper observance of the inflections and pauses. But there is a great lack in _understanding_ what is read. When visiting schools, with the permission of the teacher, I usually interrogate reading classes with reference to the meaning of what they have read. Occasionally I receive answers that give satisfactory evidences of correct instruction. Generally, however, the scholars have no distinct idea concerning the author's meaning. They, astonished, sometimes say, "I didn't know as the _meaning_ has any thing to do with reading; I try to pronounce the words right, and mind the stops." Teachers sometimes say their scholars are poor readers, and it takes all their attention to pronounce their words correctly. They therefore do not wish to have them _try_ to _understand_ what they read, thinking it would be a hinderance to them. They occasionally justify themselves in the course they pursue, saying, "I don't have time to question my classes on their reading, nor hardly time to look over and correct mistakes." At the same time they will read three or four times around, twice a day or oftener. The idea prevails extensively, judging from the practice of teachers, that the value of their services depends upon the extent of the various exercises of the school. If the classes can read several times around, twice a day, and spell two or three pages, teachers frequently think they have done well, even though one half of the mistakes in reading are uncorrected, and one fourth or more of the words in the spelling lessons are misspelled, to say nothing of understanding what is read. The majority of schools might be very much improved by conducting them upon the principle that "what is worth doing at all is worth doing well." I am fully satisfied that it is incomparably better for classes to read _once_ around, _once_ a day, and _understand_ what they read, than to read _four_ times around, _four_ times a day, _without understanding_ their lessons. Scholars should, indeed, never be allowed to read what is beyond their comprehension; and great pains should be taken to see that they actually understand every lesson, and every book read. The early formation of such a habit will be of incalculable value in after life.

I will introduce one extract from my note-book by way of illustration. The reader will please observe that it relates to neither a back district nor an inexperienced teacher.

"This is one of the oldest and most important districts in town. The school is taught by an experienced and highly-reputable teacher. The first class in the English Reader read the section entitled '_The Journey of a Day; a Picture of Human Life_.' Obidah had been contemplating the beauties of nature, visiting cascades, viewing prospects, etc., and in these amusements the hours passed away uncounted, till 'day vanished from before him, and a sudden tempest gathered around his head;' when, it is said, 'he beheld through the brambles the _glimmer of a taper_.' I inquired of the class, 'What is a taper?' No one replied. I added, 'It is either the sun, a light, a house, or a man,' whereupon one replied, 'the sun;' another, 'a house;' another still, 'a house;' and still another, 'a man.' I next inquired, 'What does glimmer mean?' No reply being given, I added, 'It either means a light, the shadow, the top, or the bottom.' They then replied successively as follows: 'Top, shadow, bottom,' which would give their several ideas of the phrase, 'the glimmer of a taper,' as follows: The shadow of a house. The top of a man. The bottom of the sun, etc. It should be borne in mind, the class had just read that this 'taper' was discovered after 'day had vanished from sight.'"

This example is selected from among more than a hundred, scores of which are more striking illustrations than the one introduced, which is selected because it occurred in the first class of an important school, taught by an experienced and highly-reputable teacher.

The habit of reading without understanding originates mainly in the circumstance that the books put into the hands of children are to them uninteresting. The style and matter are often above their comprehension. It is impossible, for example, for children at an early age to understand the English Reader, a work which frequently constitutes their only reading-book (at least in school) when but seven years of age. The English Reader is an _excellent book_, and would grace the library of any gentleman. But it requires a better knowledge of language, and more maturity of mind than is often possessed by children ten years old, to understand it, and to be interested in its perusal. Hence its use induces the habit of "pronouncing the words and minding the stops," with hardly a single successful effort to arrive at the idea of the author. To this early-formed habit may be traced the prevailing indifference, and, in some instances, _aversion_ to reading, manifested not only in childhood, but in after life.

The matter and style of the reading-book should be adapted to the capacity and taste of the learner. The teacher should see that it is well understood, and then it can hardly prove uninteresting, or be otherwise than well read. Children should read less in school than they ordinarily do, and greater pains should be taken to have them understand every sentence, and word even, of what they do read. They will thus become more interested in their reading, and read much more extensively, not only while young, but in after life, and with incomparably more profit.

_Fourth._ I have heard several classes in geography bound states and counties with a considerable degree of accuracy, when none of them could point to the north, south, east, or west. Indeed, a portion of them were not aware that these terms relate to the four cardinal points of the compass. Still more: some of them say that "geography is a description of the earth," but they do not know as they ever _saw_ the earth. They have no idea that _they live upon it_. Scholars in grammar frequently think that the only object of the study is to enable them to recite the definitions and rules, and to _parse_. They do not look for any assistance in thinking, speaking, or writing correctly, neither do they expect any aid therefrom in understanding what they read.

Classes in arithmetic not unfrequently think the principal object in pursuing that science is to be able to _do the sums_ according to the rule, and perhaps to _prove_ them. Propose to them a practical question for solution, and their reply is, "That isn't in the arithmetic." Some one more courageous may say, "If you'll tell me what rule it is in, I'll try it!" Practical questions should be added by the teacher, till the class can readily apply the principles of each rule to the ordinary transactions of business in which they are requisite. Generally, in grammar, arithmetic, and elsewhere, there is too much inquiry, _comparatively_, after the _how_, and too little after the _why_.]

Now if these paragraphs, descriptive of the condition of common schools and the qualifications of teachers at the commencement of the educational reform in New York, are applicable to those states of the Union whose provisions for general education are not equal to what hers then were, nothing can be plainer than that there exists an imperative demand for the establishment of normal schools in every part of the Union. Massachusetts has three; but her provisions in this respect are not adequate to her necessities.

Union schools, and systems of graded schools in cities and villages, should possess a normal characteristic; that is, young men and women who have the requisite natural and acquired ability should be employed as assistants in the lower departments, and should sustain essentially the relation of _apprenticed teachers_, to be promoted or discontinued according as they shall prove themselves worthy or otherwise. In the public schools of the city of New York there are about two hundred teachers of this description. These and all the less experienced teachers meet at a stated time every week for the purpose of receiving normal instruction from a committee of teachers whose instructions are adapted to their wants. A similar feature has been adopted in other cities, and in many villages, and should become universal among us.

In connection with the suggestions I have just introduced from a former report, I wish to say, I know of no reform which is more needed in our schools than that of rendering instruction at once _thorough_ and _practical_. The suggestion in the note on the 428th page, in relation to teaching the alphabet, will admit of general application. As fast as principles are learned, they should be applied. Practical questions for the exercise of the student should be interspersed with the lessons in all our text-books, when the nature of the subject will admit of it. When these are not given by the author, they should be supplied by the teacher.

I will illustrate by an example. Several years ago a teacher had the charge of a class in natural philosophy. There were no questions in the text-book used for the exercise of the student, as here recommended. In treating upon the hydraulic press, the author said, in relation to the force to be obtained by its use, "If a pressure of two tons be given to a piston, the diameter of which is only a quarter of an inch, the force transmitted to the other piston, if three feet in diameter, would be upward of forty thousand tons." The teacher inquired of the class, How much upward of forty thousand tons would the pressure be? Not one in a large class was prepared to answer the question. Some of the scholars laughed outright at the idea of asking such a question. After a few familiar remarks by the teacher, the class was dismissed. This question, however, constituted a part of their review lesson. The next day found it solved by every member of the class. Several of the scholars said to the teacher that they had derived more practical information in relation to natural philosophy from the solution of this one question, than they had previously acquired in studying it several quarters.

In treating upon the velocity of falling bodies, such questions as the following might be asked: Suppose a body in a vacuum falls sixteen feet the first second, how far will it fall the first three seconds? How far will it fall the next three seconds? How much further will it fall during the ninth second than in the fifth? If this paragraph should be read by any teacher or student of natural philosophy who has not been accustomed thus to apply principles, the author would suggest that it may be found pleasant and perhaps profitable to pause and solve these questions before reading further.

The importance of reducing immediately to practice every thing that is learned, is no less essential in moral and religious education than in physical or intellectual. Indeed, any thing short of this is jeoparding one's dearest interests; for "to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." The practical educator should bear in mind that man is susceptible of progression in his moral and religious nature as well as in his physical and intellectual. "Cease to do evil; learn to do well," is the Divine command. He who does only the former has but a negative goodness. The practice of the latter is essential to the healthful condition of the soul. It is important that we seek earnestly to be "cleansed from secret faults." Without this, our progress in excellence will at best be slow. While "the way of the wicked is as darkness, and they stumble at they know not what," it is nevertheless true that "the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

Understanding what we do of the nature of man, the subject of education, and knowing that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," and that the Great Teacher, who "taught as one having authority," hath said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness," can we regard it any thing less than consummate folly to enter upon the work of education in the open neglect of these precepts? Should we not rather cheerfully comply with them, and do what we can to encourage all teachers, and all who receive instruction, to regard this law of progression, so that, while their physical and intellectual natures are being cultivated and developed, they may not remain "babes" in the practice of morality and the Christian virtues, but "grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?"

We can not expect the student will excel his teacher, if indeed he equals him, in merely intellectual pursuits; much less can we reasonably look for superior attainments in morals and religion. If, then, the teacher would secure the most perfect obedience of his scholars from the highest motives, he must show them that he himself cheerfully and habitually complies, in heart and in life, with all the precepts of the Great Teacher, with whom is lodged all authority, and from whom he derives his. When the members of a school become convinced that their teacher habitually asks wisdom of the Supreme Educator, whose will he aims constantly to do, they will feel almost irresistibly urged to yield obedience to the precepts of Christianity, and, with suitable encouragement, will take upon themselves the easy yoke of Christ.[75]

[75] In a former chapter, the necessity of moral and religious education
was dwelt upon at length. The importance of the Scriptures as a
text-book, containing as they do the only perfect code of morals known
to man, and the objections sometimes urged against their use, were duly
considered. I wish here simply to add, that their exclusion from our
schools would be even more sectarian than their perverted use; for the
atheistical plan, which forbids the entrance of the Bible into
multitudes of our schools, under the pretense of excluding sectarianism,
shuts out Christianity, and establishes the influence of _a single
sect_, that would dethrone the Creator, and break up every bond of
social order.

Even common arithmetic, when well taught, and illustrated by judiciously constructed examples, may be made not only more practical than it has usually been heretofore, but while the student is becoming acquainted with the science of numbers, it may be rendered an efficient instrumentality in showing the advantages of knowledge and virtue, and the expense and burden to the community of ignorance and crime, thus promoting the great work of moral culture, as is beautifully illustrated by the following examples, selected from a recent treatise on that subject:

"In the town of Bury, England, with an estimated population of twenty-five thousand, the expenditure for beer and spirits, in the year 1836, was estimated at L54,190. If this was 24 per cent. of the entire loss, resulting from the waste of money, ill health, loss of labor, and the other evils attendant upon intoxication, what was the average loss from intemperance, for each man, woman, and child in the place, estimating the pound sterling at $4.80. Ans. $43,332."

This one example may do more, in many instances, toward establishing young men who may be engaged in its solution in habits of total abstinence, than a score of lectures on temperance, or as many lessons on domestic or political economy. The following, also, may more effectually check existing abuses of some of the laws of health and longevity than a month's study of physiology and moral science: "It has been estimated that a man, in a properly ventilated room, can work twelve hours a day with no greater inconvenience than would be occasioned by ten hours' work in a room badly ventilated; and that, where there is proper ventilation, a man may gain ten years' good labor on account of unimpaired health. According to this estimate, what is the loss in thirty years to each individual in a badly-ventilated work-shop, valuing the labor at ten cents per hour? Ans. $5008." What an astonishing result! Five thousand and eight dollars moneyed loss to each individual who respires impure air, estimating labor at but ten cents an hour.

Now suppose this loss occurs only in the case of the eight hundred thousand voters in the United States who are unable to read and write--and it must accrue to a much greater number of persons--and _one fourth of the annual loss would be sufficient to maintain an efficient system of common schools in every state of the Union the entire year_.

It has sometimes been said, even by individuals occupying high stations in society, that persons of the second or third order of intellect make the best school-teachers. But in the light of what has been said, this statement needs but be made to prove its fallacy. In order properly to fill the teachers' office, we need men and women of the first order of intellect, brought to a high state of cultivation. A well-qualified and faithful school-teacher earns, and of right ought to receive, a salary equal to that paid to the clergyman, or received by the members of the other learned professions. He who can teach a good school can ordinarily engage with proportionate success in more lucrative pursuits. So true is this remark, that scarcely a man can be found that has attained to any considerable eminence as a teacher, who has not been repeatedly solicited, and perhaps strongly _tempted_, to relinquish teaching and engage in pursuits less laborious and more profitable. Many yield to this temptation, and hence much of the best talent has been attracted to the other professions. School committees, however, can generally secure the services of teachers of any grade of qualifications they desire, upon the simple condition of offering an adequate remuneration.

We have said, as is the teacher so will be the school. We might add, as are the wages, so ordinarily is the teacher. Let it be understood that in any township, county, or state, a high order of teachers is called for, and that an adequate remuneration will be given, and the demand will be supplied. Well-qualified teachers will be called in from abroad until competent ones can be trained up at home. Here, as in other departments of labor, as is the demand, so will be the supply.

The best means which citizens can employ to give character and stability to the vocation of the teacher is to select competent and worthy individuals to take the charge of their schools, and then pay them so liberally that they can have no pecuniary inducement to change their employment. Let this be generally done, and teaching will soon be raised, in public estimation, to the rank of a learned profession; and the _fourth learned profession_--the vocation of the practical educator--will be taken up for life by as great a proportion of men and women eminent for talent, cultivation, and moral worth, as either of the other three professions have ever been able to boast.

* * * * *

SCHOOLS SHOULD CONTINUE THROUGH THE YEAR.

Schools should be kept open at least ten full months during the
year; in other words, _the entire year_, with the usual quarterly or
semi-annual vacations.--_Michigan School Report._

It is not enough that good school-houses be provided and well-qualified teachers be employed. Our schools should be kept open a sufficient length of time during the year to make their influence strongly and most favorably felt. The work of instruction, while it is going forward, should be the business of both teachers and scholars. If children are habituated to industry, to close application, to hard study, and to good personal, social, and moral habits during the period of their attendance upon school, these habits will be favorably felt in after life, in the development of characters whose possessors will be at once respectable and useful members of society, and a blessing to the age in which they live. On the contrary, if children are allowed to attend an indifferent school three months during the year, to work three months, to play three months, and are permitted to spend the remaining three months in idleness, the influence of this course will be felt, and it will be likely to give character to their future lives.

Under such circumstances, the good, if any, that children will receive while attending an indifferent school one fourth of the year, will be more than counterbalanced by the evil influences that surround them during the half of the year they devote to play and idleness. We can not reasonably expect that children brought up under such unfavorable and distracting influences will become even respectable members of society, much less that they will be a blessing to the generation in which they live.

In villages and densely-settled neighborhoods schools should be kept open at least ten full months during the year; in other words, _the entire year_, with the usual quarterly or semi-annual vacations; and, if possible, they should not, under any circumstances, be continued less than eight months. And, I may add, the same teacher should be retained in the charge of a school, wherever practicable, from year to year. The teacher occupies, for the time being, the place of the parent. But what kind of government and discipline should we expect in a family where a new step-father or step-mother is introduced and invested with parental authority every six months, and where the children are left in orphanage half of the year! Much more may we inquire, what kind of instruction and educational training may we reasonably expect in a large school whose wants are no better provided for! A school-teacher should be selected with as great care as the minister of the parish; and when selected, the services of the one should be continued as uninterruptedly and permanently as those of the other. Then will be beautifully illustrated this interesting truth: It is easier, cheaper, and pleasanter incomparably, and infinitely more effectual, rightly to train the rising generation, than it is to reform men grown old in sin.

Lalor, in his prize essay on education, published ten years ago in London, has recorded a kindred sentiment in this very beautiful and highly-expressive language: "The schoolmaster alone, going forth with the power of intelligence and a moral purpose among the infant minds of the community, can stop the flood of vice and crime at its source, by repressing in childhood those wild passions which are its springs. Nay, often will the mature mind, hard as adamant against the terrors of the law and the contempt of society, be softened to tears of penitence by the innocence of its educated child speaking unconscious reproof."

* * * * *

EVERY CHILD SHOULD ATTEND SCHOOL.

The plan of this nation was not, and is not, to see how many
_individuals_ we can raise up who shall be distinguished, but to see
how high, by free schools and free institutions, we can raise the
_great mass_ of population.--REV. JOHN TODD.

I promised God that I would look upon every Prussian peasant child
as a being who could complain of me before God if I did not provide
for him the best education, as a man and a Christian, which it was
possible for me to provide.--SCHOOL-COUNSELOR DINTER.

Good school-houses maybe built, well-qualified teachers may be employed, and schools may be kept open the entire year, but all this will not secure the correct education of the people, unless those schools are _patronized_; patronized, not by a few persons, not by one half, or three fourths even of a community, but by the _whole community_. As was said in a former chapter, there is no safety but in the education of the masses. A few vile persons will taint and infect a whole neighborhood. In the graphic language of the Scriptures, _One sinner destroyeth much good_.

The better portions of the community every where provide for the education of their children. If they are not instructed at home, they are sent to good schools, public or private, where their education is well looked after. Unfortunately, those children whose education is most neglected at home are the very ones, usually, that are sent least to school, and when at all, to the poorest schools.

But how shall the evil in question be remedied? How shall we secure the attendance of children generally at the schools, provided good ones are established? In the first place, diligent effort should be made to arouse the public mind to an appreciation of the importance and necessity of universal attendance. This will go far toward remedying the evil. It should be made every where unpopular, and be regarded as dishonorable in a member of our social compact, and unworthy of a citizen of a free state, to bring up a child without giving him such an education as shall fit him for the discharge of the duties of an American citizen.

But there is a portion of almost every community who feel hardly able to allow their children the necessary time to pursue an extended course of common school education, and who are really unable to clothe them properly, furnish them with useful books, and pay their tuition. This class, although comparatively small, is not unimportant. The legal provisions made for such children vary in different states. Wherever the free school principle is adopted, their tuition is of course provided for. This provision in some instances extends further. The statutes of Michigan relating to primary schools make it the duty of the district board to exempt from the payment of teachers' wages not only, but from providing fuel for the use of the district, all such persons residing therein as in their opinion ought to be exempted, and to admit the children of such persons to the school free of charge not only, but the district board is authorized to purchase, _at the expense of the district_, such books as may be necessary for the use of children thus admitted by them to the district school. The entire expense incurred for tuition, fuel, and books, in such cases, is assumed by the district, and paid by a tax levied upon the property thereof.

We have now arrived at an interesting crisis. We have exhausted the legal provision, generous as it is, and yet the blessing of universal education is not secured to those who will succeed us. Good schools may every where be established, in which the wealthy, and those in comfortable circumstances, may educate their children. Provision--yes, generous provision, though but just--has been made to meet the expense of tuition and books for the children of indigent parents. Still, they may not sufficiently appreciate an education to send their children; or, if this be not so, they may keep them at home from motives of delicacy, being unable to clothe them decently. How shall such cases be met? How shall we actually bring such children into the peaceable possession and enjoyment of a good common school education, that rich legacy which noble-minded legislators have bequeathed to them, and which is the inalienable right of every son and daughter of this republic?

Legislation has already, in many of the states, done much--perhaps all that can be reasonably expected, at least, until a good common education shall be better appreciated by the community at large, and be ranked, as it ought to be, among the _necessaries of life_. The work, then, must be consummated chiefly by the united and well-directed efforts of benevolent and philanthropic individuals.

_Benevolent females_--and especially Christian mothers, who have long been pre-eminently distinguished for their successful efforts in protecting the innocent, administering to the wants of the necessitous, and reclaiming the wanderer from the paths of vice--have felt the claims of this innocent and unoffending portion of the community, and have, in some instances, organized themselves into associations to meet those claims.

Benevolent and Christian females can doubtless accomplish more, by visiting the poor and needy in their respective school districts, and making known unto them their privileges, and encouraging and assisting them, if need be, to avail themselves of these privileges, than by the same expenditure of time and means in any other way. They have long and very generally been accustomed to clothe the children of the destitute, and accompany them to the Sunday-school, and there teach them those things which pertain to their present and everlasting well-being, and have thus accomplished incalculable good; but by co-operating with the civil authorities in securing the attendance of every child in their respective districts at the _improved common school_, they can hardly fail to accomplish vastly more.

Several associations have been formed for this noble purpose, and many children who, but for their fostering care, would have remained at their cheerless homes, have, by this labor of love, been sought out, properly cared for, and led to the common school, that fountain of intellectual life, and of social and moral culture, which is alike open to all. Gentlemen should everywhere encourage the formation of such associations, and, when formed, should offer every facility in their power to increase their usefulness. Clergymen might help forward such benevolent labors, where they are entered upon, by preaching occasionally from that good text, _Help those women._

But there are two classes of our fellow-citizens--perhaps I should say fellow-beings--who, notwithstanding the abundant legal provisions to which I have referred, and the utmost that the benevolent and philanthropic can accomplish by voluntary effort, will utterly refuse to give their children such an education as we have been contemplating. These are, first, men in comfortable circumstances, who have so much blindness of mind, and such an utter disregard for the welfare of their offspring, as to deprive them of the advantages of even a common school education; and, secondly, those who have such an obduracy of heart as absolutely to refuse to allow their children to attend school, and who, although the abundant provisions of the law are made known unto them, in meekness and love, by "man's guardian angel," prove utterly incorrigible.

Such persons are unworthy to sustain the parental relation, and the safety of the community requires that the forfeiture be claimed, and that the right of control be transferred from such unnatural parents to the civil authorities; for, as Kent says, "A parent who sends his son into the world uneducated, and without skill in any art or science, does a great injury to mankind as well as to his own family, for he defrauds the community of a useful citizen, and bequeaths to it a nuisance." How true is it that "the mobs, the riots, the burnings, the lynchings perpetrated by the _men_ of the present day, are perpetrated because of their vicious or defective education when _children_! We see and feel the havoc and the ravage of their tiger passions now, when they are full grown, but it was years ago that they were whelped and suckled."

In the very expressive language of Macaulay, the right to HANG includes the right to EDUCATE. This is not a strange nor a new idea. It long ago entered into civil codes in the Old World not only, but in the New. In Prussia, when a parent refuses, without satisfactory excuse, to send his child to school the time required by law, he is cited before the court, tried, and, if he refuses compliance, the child is taken from him and sent to _school_, and the father to _prison_.

Similar laws were enacted and _enforced_ by our New England fathers more than two hundred years ago, which history informs us were attended with the most beneficial results.[76] Although their descendants of the present generation should blush for their degeneracy, still we should be encouraged from an increasing disposition of late to return to these salutary restraints and needful checks upon ignorance and crime. Said the Honorable Josiah Quincy, Jr., late mayor of the city of Boston, in his inaugural address, "I hold that the state has a right to compel parents to take advantage of the means of educating their children. If it can punish them for crime, it should surely have the power of preventing them from committing it, by giving them the habits and the education that are the surest safeguards." Similar sentiments have been recently promulgated by the heads of the school departments of several states in their official reports, and by governors in their annual messages; and we have much reason for believing that the time is not distant when an enlightened public sentiment shall demand the re-enactment of these most salutary laws of our ancestors.

[76] The following paragraph is from the Massachusetts Colony Laws of
1642; "Forasmuch as the good education of children is of singular behoof
and benefit to any commonwealth, and whereas many parents and masters
are too indolent and negligent of their duty in that kind, it is ordered
that the select-men of every town in the several precincts and quarters,
where they dwell, shall have a vigilant eye over their brethren and
neighbors, to see, first, that none of them shall suffer so much
barbarism in any of their families as not to teach, by themselves or
others, their children and apprentices so much learning as may enable
them perfectly to read the English tongue, and knowledge of the capital
laws, upon penalty of _twenty shillings_ for each neglect therein."

COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE UPON SCHOOL.--Since the preceding paragraphs were prepared for the printer, the author has received the statutes and resolves of the Massachusetts Legislature of 1850, relating to education, which recognize the principle here contended for. Each of the several cities and towns in that commonwealth is "authorized and empowered to make all needful provisions and arrangements concerning habitual truants, and children not attending school, without any regular and lawful occupation, growing up in ignorance, between the ages of six and fifteen years; and, also, all such ordinances and by-laws respecting such children as shall be deemed most conducive to their welfare and the good order of such city or town; and there shall be annexed to such ordinances suitable penalties, not exceeding, for any one breach, a fine of twenty dollars."

It is made the duty of the "several cities and towns availing themselves of the provisions of this act, to appoint, at the annual meetings of said towns, or annually by the mayor and aldermen of said cities, three or more persons, who alone shall be authorized to make the complaints, in every case of violation of said ordinances or by-laws, to the justice of the peace, or other judicial officer, who, by said ordinances, shall have jurisdiction in the matter, which persons thus appointed shall alone have authority to carry into execution the judgments of said justices of the peace, or other judicial officer."

It is further provided that "the said justices of the peace, or other judicial officer, shall, in all cases, at their discretion, in place of the fine aforesaid, be authorized to order children proved before them to be growing up in truancy, and without the benefit of the education provided for them by law, to be placed, for such periods of time as they may judge expedient, in such institution of instruction, or house of reformation, or other suitable situation, as may be assigned or provided for the purpose in each city or town availing itself of the powers herein granted."

This principle has been incorporated into several municipal codes. Children in the city of Boston, under sixteen years of age, whose "parents are dead, or, if living, do, from vice, or any other cause, neglect to provide suitable employment for, or to exercise salutary control over" them, may be sent by the court to the house of reformation. By the late act, establishing the State Reform School, male convicts under sixteen years of age may be sent to this school from any part of the commonwealth, to be there "instructed in piety and morality, and in such branches of useful knowledge as shall be adapted to their age and capacity." The inmates may be bound out; but, in executing this part of their duty, the trustees "shall have scrupulous regard to the religious and moral character of those to whom they are bound, to the end that they may secure to the boys the benefit of a good example, and wholesome instruction, and the sure means of improvement in virtue and knowledge, and thus the opportunity of becoming intelligent, moral, useful, and happy citizens of the commonwealth."

The Massachusetts State Reform School is designed to be a "school for the instruction, reformation, and employment of juvenile offenders." Any boy under sixteen years of age, "convicted of any offense punishable by imprisonment other than for life," may be sentenced to this school. Here he may be kept during the term of his sentence; or he may be bound out as an apprentice; or, in case he proves incorrigible, he may be sent to prison, as he would originally have been but for the existence of this school.

The buildings erected are sufficiently large for three hundred boys. Attached to the establishment is a large farm, the cost of all which, when the buildings are completed and furnished, and the farm stocked and provided with agricultural implements, it is estimated will be about one hundred thousand dollars. A citizen of that state has given twenty-two thousand five hundred dollars to this institution, partly to defray past expenses and partly to form a fund for its future benefit.