OF THE STATE OF NEW-YORK 9 reformation-if improvement was required by it was that of our common schools. Mr. T. any one system more than by another, certainly made some extended remarks on the want of interest which appeared to exist, especially among parents, relative to these institutions-the want of uniformity in many schools-the folly of dismissing or changing good teachers every three months, and the uselessness of endeavoring to bring about any desirable reformation, without the hearty co-operation and aid of parents. tion: of a public exhibition of the common schools, and the performances of the various schools. The exhibitions in geography, were illustrated by maps, both extempore on the blackboard and prepared previously. Arithmetic with blackboard exercises, grammar in all its parts, shewed that not a few of the pupils in any of the schools, were prepared to take upon themselves the tasks of teachers, and that they would do honor to their profession. They furnish also, a gratifying evidence of the onward progress of our common schools under our present excellent system. The audience was so highly gratified with the performances of the schools, that they resolved that every year should witness a simi- folly or cruelty of that economy, which, to leave Resolved, That no language can express the lar exhibition. Professor Patlock, of Williams a fortune to a child, starves its intellect and imCollege, had kindly consented to deliver an ad- poverishes its heart. dress on the occasion, but the unusually bad state of the roads prevented his attendance.-willingly for that resolution. He had observed Mr. H. Howard rose to say he could vote The large audience which was present, notwith- a gross negligence and a want of interest on the standing the badness of the roads, shews the in- part of parents, with regard to common schools terest which people feel in the cause of educa. and the education of children; he saw it yetand he was pained to witness it. He had on many occasions heard farmers, when met together, discuss the best method of cultivating and improving their lands, of raising crops, and the time when he had heard them say one word of wintering cattle; but he could not recollect as to the best method of educating their children Something should be do tion. WARREN. [From the Glen's Falls Republican.] QUEENSBURY COMMON SCHOOL ASSOCIATION. THE Common School Association of the town of Queensbury met in the school-house at the Oneida, on Saturday, February 22d, 1845, at 2 o'clock P. MAY SURRO called to order; the minutes of the previous meeting were read, accepted and adopted; and the constitution of the society read. On motion of C. T. Corliss, T. J. Strong was appointed secretary pro tem. A motion was then made that the Chair ap point a committee of three to report suitable persons for officers of the association for the ensuing year. The chair named Messrs. Corliss, Lake and Hall, as such committee, which after consultation, reported as follows: For President, Ira A. Paddock; Vice-President, Isaac Swan; Recording Secretary, T. J. Strong. The report was unanimously adopted. Messrs. Swan, Corliss, and Jenkins, were appointed by the chair Directors of the Associa tion for the ensuing year. the necessity of exciting a more general feeling length, in a forcible and interesting manner, on among parents as well as teachers, in relation to this all-important subject. EVENING SESSION. At the commencement of the evening session the association listened to a very able, instructive, and highly interesting address, by Mr. L. Thomson, the county superintendent. Mr. Thomson said his remarks would be confined principally to the duties, requirements and responsibilities of common school teachers. He should not claim entire originality for every thing he might say, for the subject had been so repeatedly, ably and thoroughly discussed, that scarcely any thing new could be said. The first object of the teacher should be to render his school pleasant. He should possess mildness Mr. Paddock stated the principal objects of and good humor without levity, and dignity withthe organization of this society. Its main ob. out stiffness. A kindly nature and a forgiving ject was the promotion of education, through the disposition should ever be a characteristic of his improvement and elevation of the People's Se- government. The proper organization of the minaries-our Common Schools. It was intend- school should receive his careful consideration, ed to render this association auxiliary to the the arrangement of classes, studies and recitacounty association, as the county was to the tions; his rules, regulations, study hours, and state association; and thus by mutual co-opera- recesses, should all be regularly attended to; tion, much could be done towards effecting the two or three general exercises should be had grand design of the whole. The negligence ma- each day, and interruptions carefully provided nifested by a large portion of the people, in re-against--for unless these things are all performgard to schools, was touched upon,-if one-half the interest were taken (said Mr. P.) in behalf of our common schools, and if half the money and time were expended in elevating their standard, that there is in political matters-we should have good buildings, good teachers, and good schools, in every district throughout the state. Mr. Thompson, county superintendent, thought very favorably of this plan of forming town associations. It would lead to unity of feeling and harmony of action, by means of which a reform might be effected; and if any thing needed ed with regularity, a confusion will generally ensue, calculated to harass the teacher, and impede the pupil's progress. Silence and obedience should be effected rather by moral suasion than by other means; and in all his difficulties the teacher ought ever to inculcate moral principles-a love of truth, honesty, and patriotism, and a detestation of whatever is evil, as immo. rality, intemperance, dissipation, falsehoodespecially the latter vice. Corporal punishment, like hanging, should be inflicted only in extreme cases. If it be imperiously demanded, 10 DISTRICT SCHOOL JOURNAL, postponed till the next meeting of the Associa tion. A special invitation was given to female teachers to take part in discussions of the association, either by written or verbal communications, as may be most agreeable to them. On invitation, Mr. Rich then addressed the convention for half an hour in reference to a plan of self-education and reform in the elements of written language. The thanks of the convention were then presented Mr. R. for his very interesting and instructive remarks. appoint a time, and make it an impressive occasion. A leading principle to be observed in teaching common schools, is, to teach but one thing at a time-to observe thoroughness in each study. Persons who have a little smattering of every thing, are aptly compared with a certain kind of pocket knife, which contains, in addition to the common blade, a saw, a file, a gimlet, tooth-pick, scissors, and cork-screw; but neither of which appendages is fit for its designed office. Scholars should be taught to think, explain, and give a reason for each thing they do. Attention should be called to the definition of words,-to the nature and effect of prefixes and suffixes; Resolved, That the proceeding of this meeting and under no pretence should these important be sent for publication to the several newspabranches of education ever be neglected. Ques-pers of the county, and also to the District School tions on the several reading lessons should be Journal. asked, that pupils may learn to communicate. their acquired knowledge. Mental arithmetic ought always to precede written; and it was to be hoped a class in this mental science of num. bers, might be found in every school in the county. Mr. T. portrayed in a felicitous man ner the peculiar benefits arising from such of the different studies pursued in the district school-done. showed the vast importance of attending to the bodily health of scholars-the necessity of having convenient, comfortable, and properly ventilated school-houses, and concluded with an eloquent address to teachers, on the great and fearful responsibilities of their station, placed as they power to make his scholars humane, kind, hon- T. J. STRONG, Sec'y. WYOMING. [From the Western New-Yorker.] The Wyoming county Teacher's Association met pursuant to adjournment, at the courthouse, in the village of Warsaw, Feb. 1, 1845, at 10 o'clock A. M. The meeting was called to order by the President, J. S. Denman, (County Superintendent,) who made a short but pertinent address on taking the chair. On motion, a committee to prepare business for the meeting was appointed, consisting of Messrs. Holly and Johnson, and Miss E. How ard. Discussion of questions presented by the committee, viz: 1st. Ought corporal punishment to be wholly and immediately abolished in district schools? 2d. What course is best adapted to inculcate moral instruction in our schools? 3d. Ought the higher branches of our English education to be taught in common schools? 4th. Should the common school teacher be required to have a general knowledge of physiology and animal mechanism? The Association then adjourned to meet at the court-house in the village of Warsaw, on the second Saturday in June, at 10 o'clock A. M. The meeting was large, embracing more than one hundred and fifty teachers of the county, be sides numerous spectators, and all appeared to separate with the feeling that good had been J. S. DENMAN, Pres't. C. J. JUDD, Sec'y. DISTRICT SCHOOL JOURNAL. ALBANY, APRIL, 1845. miscellaneous reading than any of its predecesTHIS Volume will contain a greater variety of sors, and will be sustained by many new contributors, We hope it will merit the continuance of the confidence heretofore reposed in its management. In the last number was a statement, which showed that the Journal depended entirely upon subscriptions for its support, and we look confidently to the superintendents, and other friends of education, to aid in extending its circulation. MORAL EDUCATION, school training. The acquisition of knowledge, THIS is the essential, but the neglected part of and not the formation of character, is constantly presented to the pupil, as the only object of ef fort, until the end of true education is forgotten, and that knowledge, which is a blessing or a curse to its possessor and to society, as it is subservient to virtuous or vicious principles, becomes the sole master of the will, usurping that throne where virtue should reign supreme. It is this almost exclusive attention to intel The first question proposed by the committee was then taken up and discussed by Messrs.lectual culture, that vitiates the influence of the Bingham, Rich, Riggs, Holly, Mix, Tompkins, Connable, and Judd, and decided, almost unanimously in the negative. On motion, the consideration of the remain. ng questions presented by the committee was school on society, and impairs confidence in its power to prevent vice or to foster virtue. For the most superficial reasoner perceives that the elementary studies have little or no influence on the formation of those moral habits and principles which are essential to the prosperity and progress of man. of their own conduct, that as they grow older they 4. Is avarice made contemptible, while prudence is 5. What ideas about money are given to children, That it is in itself the chief good, or only as a means of good? 6. Do your pupils keep a journal in which they write the principal events of the day? What advantages arise from such methods of giving children habits of order, tending to fortify their morals? 7. How are just ideas of self-respect formed, a desire of good reputation cherished, a love of their fellow. beings confirmed? 8. Is kindness towards animals inculcated? 9. Are temperance, neatness, industry, economy and the kindred virtues, illustrated and enforced by occasional conversativual exercises, in which anecdote gives point to precept? It is not therefore strange, that the school exclusively occupied with teaching these branches should be regarded with distrust or even dislike, by those who feel that what the MAN IS, and not what he knows, is the important result of edu. cation. Besides, there has been so much educa. tional quackery, such disproportionate value given by the great leaders of reform, to comparatively unimportant methods, and so much exaggeration of the effect of certain doubtful or bad principles of discipline, that public attention has been diverted from the true, the only test of a good school-will it make the child a good citizen? Not a good son, that is, in the province of home; not a true christian, that beIn suggesting these questions, our object is longs to religion; but a good citizen. For the district school is purely a political institution, not only to awaken inquiry, but to receive in. and its teacher must make our youth industri-struction, and we earnestly request those teachous, honest, temperate, prudent, generous, just, ers whose experienee has tested the value of Obedient to the laws and devoted to their coun- any good method of moral training, to communitry. If virtue is thus sown in the rich soil of cate it for publication, that it may be dif knowledge, and if, as the beautiful vine of life fused throughout the country. climbs upwards, its luxuriances are pruned, and its branches tended and sustained, it will, though planted in earth, bear its rich fruits in the sunshine of heaven. 10. Do you in your own deportment, manner and life show your pupils these qualities in action, or does your example destroy the influence of your precepts ? NORMAL SCHOOL. THE examination of this institution was held on the 10th and 11th of last month and it con firmed the most sanguine anticipations of its warmest friends. We do not, however, intend to repeat the eulogium of the newspaper press, we prefer to leave to its pupils the vindication of the school. The next term will open on the second Wednesday of this month, and as from some coun ties there are many more applicants than vacan The great problem to be solved, is, how can this moral culture be given? For, it is not safe longer to let accident determine whether those principles and habits, which are essential to the existence of our free institutions, shall be cherished or impaired, by the discipline and teachings of the schools. Better that our youth should be without book learning, than without integrity. Let, then, every teacher of the opening sum-cies, it is important that the executive commitmer schools, propose to herself, as a principal duty, the great work of forming character, that the intellect and the conscience may be simultaneously developed, and what the child learns, fit the man for usefulness and happiness. To facilitate the right discharge of this duty, we propose the following questions, hoping that some one of them may excite inquiry, and lead the teacher to make those improvements in moral training which are essential to safe and thorough education. 1. How are children taught to speak the truth, and to abhor falsehood? 2. How is the tendency to idleness corrected or erad icated? 3. Are your pupils early trained to exercise thought and reason, applied to the examination and direction tee should be early informed, if there is any county that does not intend to send its full quo ta of state and volunteer pupils. The several county superintendents are, therefore, requested promptly to advise the secretary of the commit tee, if such vacancies, either of the state or volunteer pupils exist, that he may be able to answer the letters of those, who are not only anxious to enter as volunteer pupils, but are willing to pay their tuition, if they can only be receivedDAVID P. PAGE, Principal. GEORGE R. PERKINS, A. M., Teacher of Mathematics. M. G. McKOON, A. M., Teacher of Natural F. I. ILSLEY, Teacher of Vocal Music. SHOOTING THE SUPERINTENDENT. THIS is becoming a favorite exercise of the pupils of our County Institutes and Teachers' Drills. The mind and not the person of the county superintendent is the target aimed at, and as the odds are greatly against the officer, it sometimes proves more fatal to reputation than the so called field of honor. The laws of the lists are as follows: The superintendent having examined, taught, and counselled the teachers, is in turn put to the question by his own pupils. He seats himself before his class, and each pupil teacher has the right of presenting any difficulty in the teaching, discipline, or organization of schools, and to require his prompt decision. The decision is then discussed by the pupils, and if reversed by a two-third vote, the superintendent is pronounced hit. This shooting of the superintendent," will be found an interesting and amusing exercise. It has been tested by our friend, Mr. Cooper, formerly of Waterloo, but now at the head of the Sing-Sing Academy, who is, by the way, as hard a person to hit as we know. TEACHERS' INSTITUTES. We publish to-day, two notices of the opening of these useful and popular institutions. We hope their managers will furnish us with full accounts of the course of instruction adopted, the number of pupils in attendance, &c., &c. Annexed is a list of the number of pupils taught in several counties, during the autumn session of 1844; it will be convenient for future reference and comparison. HINTS TO TEACHERS IN RELATION TO THEIR HAVE your contract in writing; let a copy of it be inserted in the school-register, and introduce into it the following clause : "And the said trustees promise to pay one dollar more monthly, to the teacher, if they do no: during every month that he keeps school in said district (No.-,) visit said school, and spend in examining it, at least one half of the school day." Make this a part of your contract, and you will secure that visitation, and awaken that interest which is essential to your success. School keeping is the only business, where the agent need bind the principal to see that he is not wronged or defrauded by the manner in which the contract is fulfilled by him. THE TEACHER./" NO. I. THE great practical problem of the age, in reference to education, is in what way and by what means the intellectual and moral faculties of the rected as to enable their possessors at the earliyoung are to be so developed, cultivated and diest practicable period to render them subservient to the varied purposes of existence. Accurately, or even approximately to solve this difficult problem, demands all the energies of the clear. the most expansive philanthropy and to the most est and most comprehensive intellect, united to diversified experience of human nature. That a particular method of mental culture has, in a. given instance, or a given number of instances, been followed by a career of usefulness, honor and happiness, by no means authorizes us to conclude that a similar result will uniformly, or even generally follow, from a repetition of the process, under other and different circumstances. moral powers in different individuals, so variSo variously combined are the intellectual and ously modified the elements of character, by innumerable circumstances entering at every period of life into the mental structure, that it is next to impossible to lay down any fixed rule, which shall enable the educator to mould aright 40 in all cases the plastic energies of thought and action committed to his charge. More particu20 larly is this remark applicable to the develop. 130 ment and direction of the moral faculties. Mo 97 tives and inducements which operate powerfully and irresistibly with one class of minds, are found atterly impotent and inefficacious with an1,448 other. Arguments and reasonings which address themselves at once to the comprehension and appreciation of one individual, are urged in vain upon the understanding or the conscience of another. In some minds the convictions of the moral sense preponderate over all the allurements of vicious inclination; and in conjunction with a well-balanced intellect, secure, apparently withwith the dictates of enlightened reason and out effort, a course of conduct in accordance christian obligation; while in others, so feebly Number of pupils attending the several County Allegany, .......... 140 Chenango, Orleans, Oneida, (at Utica,) 60 Erie, 50 Seneca, 100 Fulton, 54 Otsego,. "1 (at Camden,). 70 Tioga, Saratoga, Franklin, Total,.. STATE CERTIFICATES. 100 75 57 70 State Certificates of qualification have been granted by the Superintendent of Common schools, to JOSEPH ATWATER and MILES H. BIERCE, of Cortland, since the date of our last publication. difference, or the unrestrained passions of an enlightened age. compacted are the barriers of moral restraint, and so active and energetic the vicious propensi. ties, that the entire tendency of the mental organization is reversed, and the attainment of confirmed habits of virtue rendered possible only by a painful, systematic and laborious process of self-culture, conducted under the most favorable auspices. In short, the mental constitution and tendency of no two individuals of the race can be said to be the same; and consequently the elementary discipline which is to prepare them for the great arena of life, with its duties, responsibilities, struggles, reverses, triumphs, must be infinitely diversified, in order to comprehend, with any degree of ultimate success, the innumerable varieties of disposition and temperament which are thus found to exist. Still, it is by no means impracticable to arrive at certain fundamental principles, which, if not universally applicable to the mental and moral discipline of youth, will, in the great majority of instances, enable the educator to give that direc-provement and progress. The law of love, of tion to the opening mind which will best conduce to its subsequent development and expansionto form those habits and mature those principles which are to constitute the future character, and to cultivate those virtues and graces, the possession of which is so indispensable to happiness. This inequality in the advancement and improvement of the intellectual and moral faculties, can be corrected only by a more equal and har monious mental development and culture in early youth. Moral education should be contemporaneous and commensurate with intellectual progress. The great ideas of duty and responsibility, of truth, virtue, simplicity and singleness of character, benevolence and beneficence, should be kept constantly and clearly in view, reflected from the perfect union of christianity, and irra. diated by the strong light of immortality. The atmosphere of the school-room should be perfectly free from the admixture of the baser ingredients of passion, in any of their shapes or forms. The artless innocence of childhood should there uniformly find a congenial field for the realization of its joyous hopes, its beaming anticipations, its ardent desire for knowledge, for imkindness, of disinterested regard for the welfare and happiness of others-of sympathy for others' woes-of forgiveness and forgetfulness of inju ries-should be enforced by all those considerations derived from the natural and moral world, which are constantly present to the eye and to the mind; and not an incident capable of being seized upon without the appearance of an effort, and affording an apt illustration of some valua ble moral lesson, should be suffered to pass un improved. Mildness and dignity of demeanor on the part of the teacher-perfect self-possession, and perfect freedom from affectation-accompa nied by the uniform manifestation of a kindly and paternal regard for the true interests, welfare and happiness of each individual committed to his charge, will seldom fail to make a deep and indelible impression upon the ingenuous moral nature of those who daily witness these attractive exhibitions. The cardinal elements of conduct and character will thus insensibly become interfused and incorporated with their intellects and hearts, and under the fostering influences of parental and social co-operation, will speedily ripen into durable habits, and fixed principles of goodness and virtue. So important is a correct appreciation of these fundamental principles on the part of those who are charged with the education of the young, that it may safely be asserted that upon it depends almost exclusively the degree of success which their instructions, however valuable and comprehensive in an intellectual point of view, shall be found to have attained, in the formation and development of character. Knowledge, however accurate and sound, and firmly imbedded in the mind, is of no practical value to him whose moral nature has either been suffered to run to waste, or been distorted, disfigured and perverted by mistaken processes of discipline, or the operation of untoward circumstances. By far the greater portion of the accumulated evils of our modern political and social organization, are unquestionably attributable to the unequal development of the intellectual and moral faculties. The progress of mere knowledge-of scientific induction of artistical skill and ingenuity-has outstripped the capacity, and not unfrequently even the disposition, to apply it to the highest and noblest purposes of life; and that power which was conferred upon man for the attain- [By E. R., author of Popular Lessons-School Friend S. 8. R. WRITING MATERIALS. -and other admirable text-books.] NO. II. "WHAT should we do for something to write upon if we had no paper?" said one child to another. "We might use slates," readily replied she to whom the question was addressed. What was in use for this purpose before the invention of paper, is an interesting enquiry. ment of the perfection of his being in all its fair and beautiful proportions, has been rendered subservient to mere material results of time and sense. This want of adaptation between the godlike faculties of thought and reason-creative and inventive power-combination and concentration of physical and mental effort-and the purposes, in the civil, social and political economy to which, with few exceptions, they have hitherto been applied, is mournfully apparent in The materials used in ancient times to write the deranged structure of modern civilization. upon, were hard substances-as stone, brick, Vice and crime, suffering and misery, want and metals, and wood. In Egypt, Greece, and Italy, destitution, violence, rapine and bloodshed in- these substances were employed. The laws of crease and multiply, with the increase and mul. Solon for the Athenians, were engraved both on tiplication and diffusion of scientific knowledge brass and wood. The laws of the Twelve Taand inventive skill, and the ponderous car of in- bles among the Romans were engraved upon tellectual progress daily and hourly crushes be- slabs of oak. Being once engraved upon brass, neath its remorseless wheels whole hecatombs when the capitol where they were kept was of victims to the sordid selfishness, the cold in-struck with lightning, the plates were melted. |