RADICALISM IN BOSTON. more writing in blank books and in other exercises required. The great amount of time IMPORTANT CHANGES IN METHODS AND STUD- previously devoted to geography is reduced, IES PURSUED IN THE BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS. HE readers of The Journal will be interested in learning of the latest radicalism in the management of the Boston Public Schools. One of the last acts of the School Board at the July meeting was to adopt what is called the "New Programme of Studies." This had been most carefully prepared by the Board of Supervisors and the present Superintendent, and was the result of months of consideration and discussion. It was adopted by the School Board with little discussion and without much opposition. To show what a departure it is from the beaten paths of the past, we present the main features of this new course of studies. In the primary schools the instruction is al most entirely oral. Scholars are to learn from objects and from the teacher, instead of from the book. Oral lessons will be given upon pictures, plants, animals, or whatever the ingenuity of the teacher may suggest, in order to accustom the scholars to express what they know in words. This exercise will be called "Language." Other oral instructions will be given upon form, color, measure; animals grouped by habits, traits, or structures; vegetables, minerals, the human body, and hygiene. Fables, anecdotes and simple poetry will receive proper attention. The metric system will be taught from the metric apparatus. Heretofore much time has been given to spelling, and many hours spent over the primary speller; that book is to be entirely discarded, and "some easy, common words from the reading lessons" substituted in its place. Two new studies are introduced called "Recreation" and "Miscellaneous," to which an hour and a half a week is to be given. Whether this means work or play, teachers and scholars are yet to learn. In the grammar grade, equally important changes are indicated. Grammar is abolished, at least the name, and the spelling book goes with it. How the eyes of the boys will glis ten when they learn this fact! But we question, in fact, the wisdom of these ultra meas ures. "Language" takes the place of grammar, which means less of technical grammar, such as parsing, &c., and more attention given to composition, structure of sentences, use of capitals, letter-writing, and analysis. Spelling is to be from the reader and other text-books. The amount of writing in copybooks is reduced more than one-half, and and natural philosophy and physiology are to be taken up in the third class. Music and drawing receive the same attention as during previous years. The most important change here, as in the primary grade, is in reference to oral instruction. It is not to be as in the old programme, merely mentioned and rarely attended to by the teachers for want of time, but a specified amount of time per week is to be allotted to it, as well as to arithmetic or reading. In the two lowest classes the instruction will be almost entirely oral. In the fourth class it will be largely so, and in the other classes from one to two hours per week will be given to this exercise. In the lower classes the subjects for oral instruction will be natural history, plants from May to November, animals from November to May, trades, occupations, common phenomena, stories, anecdotes, mythology, metals, and minerals. In the upper classes, physiology, life in the Middle Ages, biographical and historical sketches, and experiments in physics. Every study has its specified time assigned to it in the course. In educational work, especially, the effort must be well organized and the purpose definite. Cui bono, "for what good," must be the ever-recurring question. A superintendent, in organizing a series of teachers' meetings must clearly apprehend what kind of work is most needed by his teachers, and then plan for its proper accomplishment. The old fashioned teachers' meeting failed because teachers came unprepared for the work,—the work not having been previously assigned; again, skillful teachers were not secured to conduct the exercises. It did not meet their actual and immediate wants. These meetings may be the medium whereby the superintendent may exert a powerful influence for good, not only on the teachers but on school offi. cers and the people of the localities where they are held. In order that the meeting may be eminently successful, the following conditions must be, or her inspection district will be, and will considered: An accessible location; a defi- thereby have ample opportunity to make nite programme, prepared and announced in thorough preparation therefor. Every teacher advance; a professional, as well as a teacha- at work in the county, all intending to teach ble spirit on the part of the teachers; a care- during the year, and the advanced pupils of ful preparation on the part of the superintend- the public schools are earnestly invited to ent, as well as the teachers; the coöperation prepare for, and attend these meetings. The and encouragement of school boards; the Superintendent calls to his aid, in conducting conductors of the excercises to be teachers in the exercises, the best teachers of the county; whom the rest have confidence. Something and such additions to, or variations from, the of a system should be secured throughout above scheme are made, as tend to improve the State in regard to these Saturday meetings, the character of the meetings. as has been secured in the case of the annual institutes. IN NIAGARA REVISA. In Walworth county, composed of sixteen townships, a plan was carried out during the past winter, whereby teachers held monthly TN the early part of last August, I joined meetings in each of the four inspection dis- a party of pleasure, principally from York, tricts, and worked in accordance with a defi- Lancaster, Columbia and Harrisburgh, whose nite programme, previously announced by final destination was Niagara, via Minnequa, the superintendent. The following are the Watkins Glen and Seneca Lake. This excurmain features of this scheme of work: sion was under the efficient management of Dr Dale, of York. Undertakings like this are a real benefit to our country, which so greatly needs æsthetic culture to counteract the groveling tendencies of our preeminently "practical" nation. Their influence as a means of education is incalculable. and ac, syllables. Constitutions........ U. S. History....... Grammar Spelling... Reading. tions. Geography numbers; scales. Arithmetic.. and Decimal. TOPICS. Notation of whole Fractions, Common Simple Interest. Degree. America. ing in the State. War. Government. vow. in monosyl's and of consonants in unac, syllables, Analysis of Tho't. Exercise. Down American Literature. Growth of the U. S. By reference to this scheme, any teacher in the county may ascertain just when, where, and what the nature of each meeting in his On our northward way, beautiful glimpses of the Susquehanna-the winding streamflashed upon us for a moment here and there, as we followed the steady and unerring guidance of the iron steed, with its sinews and muscles that never tire, through sylvan dale and by sequestered cottage and hamlet, and arrived, in the evening, at Watkins Glen, which was our first stopping place. Watkins Glen was a disappointment to me; but the disappointment was of that kind, rare in the case of scenery as well as that of character, in which the delightful reality surpasses one's expectations. "The Artist's Dream" was the part of the Glen which our own little party admired most, and the "Pool of the Nymphs," we all thought charming. Of the naiads themselves, however, we saw none in their chosen place; but we met three of them in a secluded spot, a little below, clothed and in their right minds, all engaged, as was to be expected in this utilitarian age, in reading modern novels. Here and there the little pink blossoms of the Herb Robert gleamed forth from a crevice of the rock, and the azure chalice of the pendant Harebell hung down from a ledge above. Our passage over Seneca Lake was very pleasant, though there is nothing in the scenery especially beautiful. Indeed, the shores of this lake are very tame, and it is only after one has left a long vista behind him and | This pronunciation is certainly more sonorous the common place minutiae of the scenery have faded away into the vague and dreamy, that one sees anything very attractive in Seneca Lake. I remarked to a friend the absence of the "wild swan," which the poet instructs us to believe habitually "spreads his snowy sail" on the bosom of this favored sheet of water; but that gentleman explained the lack by reminding me that as twilight was approaching, the poetical bird had probably gone to roost. We arrived at Niagara on the 7th of August, about midnight, so we did not see the cataract till the morning of the 8th After the lapse of years I found myself once more in the presence of all its perennial beauty. The whole is an "embarras des richesses," which no one can appreciate who has never been there. I will not dilate upon the hackneyed topic of the scenery of this unequaled Fall. It is enough to say that it seemed more beautiful than ever. The late Mr. Edmund Quincy said many years ago, that the impression which the cataract left upon his mind was not so much one of grandeur as of exquisite beauty, and this, I think, must be the feeling of all people of fine organization. Prof. Haldeman, who has devoted some time to the study of several of the Indian dialects, once told the writer that the name Niagara signifies "The Broken Water." An etymology, at one time somewhat in vogue, was "The Wonderful," which was suspicious, as savoring too much of the transcendental, perhaps, for the savage mind; though in the pride of our so-called civilization, we often underrate those nations we call savage, and complacently over rate ourselves. The name of this Fall is almost universally pronounced with the accent on the antepenultimate-Ni-ag'-ara. But Schoolcraft, whose mother was a squaw, and who was, I believe, familiar with the Indian dialects of this region, says that the word was, by the aborigines, accented on the penultimate-Ni-a-ga'-ra. The paternal grandparents of the writer were, with a number of other relatives, captured, during the Revolutionary War, by a party of Mohawks and other Iroquois Indians, and taken prisoners into Canada, crossing the river just below and in sight of the cataract. These ancestors of his always pronounced the name Niaga'ra, saying that this was the pronunciation of the Indians themselves, who may reasonably be supposed to have spoken their own language correctly. Goldsmith accents the name in this manner, but his authority will probably be regarded as doubtful. and pleasing to the ear than the prevailing one. As I have never met with any one who had taken a certain view of the Fall from the American side which enjoys some advantages over all others, I will call the attention of the reader to it especially. Half way down the covered railway there is a door opening upon a bank of debris, which has accumulated from the disintegration of the rock above. Taking one's stand on a certain point of this bank, the American Fall and the great Canadian Cataract are united into one, the profile of Goat Island disappearing entirely. This vista of falling waters is the finest of all attainable ones. I speak of it as a vista, for it is as viewed in this character only that it surpasses all others. The British Fall is, I believe, universally admitted to be the most perfectly beautiful. The impression of enormous volume is greatest there, and that exquisite and unrivaled green of the water is there displayed in the greatest perfection. When the great Horseshoe Fall, enveloped in its veil of mist, has faded away into a ghost-like vision of vagueness under the shadow of a passing cloud, it is wonderful to see it glowing into renewed beauty under the magical beams of the sunlight as it brightens into the perfect splendor of unclouded day. The trembling and impalpable iris that plays over the snow of the falling waters, adds a last touch of glory to this unrivaled scene. Vision of Beauty! when we were at last forced to say to thee farewell, the feeling of our hearts was that of abiding thankfulness to the Creator of thee and all other lovely things for this perennial banquet, and of equal gratitude for the measure of power with which we are endowed for its enjoyment. TEACHERS' EXAMINATIONS. O噐 * NE of the superintendent's least pleasant duties, and the teacher's most trying and vexatious ordeals is the teachers' examination. However intelligent the latter may be, it is always difficult to arrive at the exact extent of his qualifications as a teacher, and more difficult still, if not utterly impossible to indicate it on the certificate. On the other hand, the teacher never feels as though he had obtained exactly what he deserved. He is always sure that something is wrong with the superintendent. Again, the method of examining is anything but satisfactory to all concerned. If oral, too much time will be required, to say nothing of innumerable other objections; and if written, too much labor is imposed on the teacher examined. In fact, the whole modus operandi is open to criticism on every side, and it is with a view to direct thought to it that this article is written. Now, it will be admitted that the object of the examination is to arrive at a knowledge of the qualifications of the teacher as such. In other words, the superintendent's business is not so much to ascertain how thoroughly versed in English grammar A is, but rather how competent he is to teach it. The question is not so much, Can B solve a question in cube root, as, Is he conversant with the best method of teaching C to do it? If this position is considered correct, it follows that the entire examination is in the theory and practice of teaching. That the examination should show, not as it does now, who is the best scholar, which is of no concern, but who is the best teacher, which is what the employers want to know. It would also follow that the examination would not place the young student, who has never given the theory and practice of teaching a thought, far above the far superior conscientious teacher, who has made this, as he should, his chief study. Finally it would follow that teaching would be recognized, if not as a profession, at least as a calling requiring something more than a mere knowledge of the common school branches. Would it not also bar the door against that crowd of interlopers, who always have the impudence to call themselves teachers, whenever business in other avocations is dull? Let it not be supposed that I undervalue literary qualifications; but what is insisted on here, is that they are only means to the end ability to teach. Supposing all this to be conceded, it can, I think, be shown that both time and place, as well as method of examination, should be changed. The best time to examine one already engaged in teaching, is certainly not during vacation, but while at work. Why should not the superintendent examine the teacher while imparting his instructions to the class, while governing and managing his school? What more favorable and more suitable time, place and circumstances could be chosen? Finally, the method of examination should be the oral and written combined, but principally the oral. Were the object simply to arrive at a teacher's literary qualifications, I would grant that the written method would be preferable; but the object is not only to do this, but also to test his ability to avail himself of them under the trying circumstances of the school room, that is, to ascertain whether in an emergency, or whenever occasion requires, he can summon all his mental powers, and concentrate them upon the subject under consideration: to ascertain the degree of the applicant's presence of mind, and hence the extent of his control over his own intellectual faculties, as an essential preliminary condition of having control over the minds of others. Now this can best be done by an oral examination, which will also best reveal the gift of language, the ease of utterance, the facility of illustration, and the general bearing and manner of the person examined. HINTS TO KINDERGARTNERS. TH B. HE following is a lesson on the cylinder of the second gift of Froebel's Kindergarten occupations, which was handed in by one of Mrs. Pollock's Normal scholars in the Kindergarten Normal Institute of Washington, D. C. It will be suggesttive to many teachers in the public schools under whose eyes it may come. What have I in my hand, children ?"-holding up the cylinder of the second gift. Ans. "A roller." "What have you ever seen, that was the shape of this cylinder, children ?" "Gas and water-pipes, trunks of trees, stems of flowers, lead-pencils, pen-holders, lamp-chimneys, stove-pipes and drums." Sometimes give a lesson on some of these, and tell why they were made this shape, were hollow and not solid like our cube. Explain the difference in sound of a solid body and a drum. "Does the cylinder look anything like the cube? Has it any edges or corners as the cube has ?" Yes, it has two edges, but they are curved edges and do not form any corners.' "What is a corner?" thoughts. In his leisure hours he generally reads, or, as he feels too old to play about the streets, he will take a quiet stroll about the Anlagen, the StadtHof-, or Schloss garten. This may be good exercise for an old gentleman, but not for a boy whose energy has been accumulating for hours while sitting on the hard school bench. England can hardly overrate the value of its outdoor sports. The German school-boy is wanting, too, in that peculiar institution which must exercise a great influence upon the character-namely, the fight. The Germans have certainly a somewhat similar institution -the duel. But the duel has, in the existing state of society, lost its intensity of meaning; our age has "A point where two lines meet to say how do you grown too old for it; only boys are young enough to do to-day?' to each other." "Will the cylinder stand like the cube ?" "Yes, when it is set on one of its plane faces. There are some objects which are nearly this form, but not quite." Let children name examples, as door-knobs, dishes, etc. These forms are called cylindrical. "Which of these three forms of blocks differ most from each other?" "The sphere and the cube." A THE GERMAN SCHOOL-BOY. WRITER in the Nineteenth Century, a leading English periodical, who seems to treat his subject from the standpoint of personal knowledge, paints a picture of life in the German gymnasia and universities which is certainly less attractive than that usually presented. If it be true-and we have little reason to doubt the evidence of a witness so seemingly credible-our American youth need not cross the sea for better scholastic training or for higher development in all that constitutes true manhood. Says our author: From his earliest years the German school-boy is overworked at the gymnasiums and lyceums, and his work increases as he advances, until he is about to enter the university. Besides being in school from 8 a. m. in winter and 7 a. m. in summer until 3 or 4 p. m., he is so busily occupied in preparing his lessons that the writer has known boys of the unter se cunda (the fourth from the highest class) at work till midnight, with but very little time for recreation. Then the German boy has not those exhilarating outdoor sports which drive away pale faces and pale For need it. The student, however, has remained a boy up to an age at which he ought to be a man. him the duel, though dead, is not yet buried; perhaps it would be stricter to say that it has lost its living, manly earnestness and reached its second childhood. Dueling is one of the chief occupations of the "corps-student." The institution of "corps" has lost the aim and end by which it was called forth; its mission is fulfilled, and so there ensues, as is always the case in history when the true motives and ends of institutions have been realized and have played their part, a time when some mere outward concomitant, a formal matter, is clung to; an attribute is made the essence. Drawing an analogy from chivalry, we call this " Quixotism." The sensible German "corps-student" feels the sham in moments when he is not beerfully enthusiastic, in moments of reflective relaxation; but the English fifth-form boy has learned it thoroughly, and even in his cups despises those who play at fighting. In German schools great attention is given to the education of the intellect, but the forming of the character is sorely neglected. Nay, it is not only neglected, but much is done positively to spoil the character. How frequent are the offenses against the pupils' self-respect! Words like "Du Esel," "Du lügst," are not at all infrequent. Nor, again, is there the "wholesome equality" between master and pupil. Entire submission, as well in thought as in action, is exacted. Hence springs a habit of dissimulation, trickery, or tale telling while in the master's presence, ridicule and bravado behind his back. idea of " 'gentleman," which has worked so well with the little boys in American public schools, is totally unknown. Much has been said as to German schools, and they have constantly been held up to the eyes of the world as models; but though this high opinion is no doubt justified in the department of learning, yet we cannot hold it as regards the formation of character. In this respect the system of American public schools is certainly better. The Look at the pale young " Primaner" who has outgrown his strength, and compare him with the German youth of Tacitus who bathed in snow! His life, which ought at that age to be essentially of the present, is of the future. He eagerly looks forward to the time when he will be a student at the university. On this goal of happiness all his night and day dreams concentrate. He sees himself with his colored cap and his high boots, his rapier in one hand, his glass in the other, jeering at all the laws and restrictions before which he has had so long to cringe. That will be happiness! And what does he find? At first his fancy is captivated by the charm of novelty; he is enchanted so long as his illusion can make flowery what would otherwise be most barren. |