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Engraved from Photo by Geo. E. Perine, NewYork.

JPickne

SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.
STATE OF WISCONSIN

INDEX.

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Lack of Home Discipline,.....

.756

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.289

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Book Notices,

..39, 96, 121, 114, 163, 191

Legislation Needed,

..164

Linear Mesure,.

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Calling upon Parents,

Long Life, A....

....18

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Farmers' Boys,...
Ford, J........

Geographical Topics,...

Golden Rules,..

.225

.57, 323
........188

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.....48
.261

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..........137

...260 Pestalozzian Maxims,.

297

Phonic Reading,

307

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Hints on Teaching Geography,
History and Political Education.
History of Wis Teachers' Ass'n,........35
Home Geography,.

.....319

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..80

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to March 1866, indrisur.

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While the subject of juvenile instruction is now justly claiming so much attention, it ought not to be forgotten that whatever may be the education of childhood, that period is soon passed; the Primary school is soon exchanged for the Intermediate, the High school, the Academy, the Seminary, or the College, and the youth demands stronger food than the child; manly reflection must begin to follow childish observation; books must take the place of "objects"; the self-culture of study the place of the school and family culture of external things; invigorating mental labor the place of mere novel and stimulating pleasure.

What instruction is of most worth after the period of childhood is past, what the boy or girl would derive most benefit from in the High School, Academy, or Seminary, is a question that receives little consideration. It is scarcely ever discussed in the Educational Journals; it seldom claims attention before Teachers' Conventions or Associations. Is it a matter of no importance? This cannot be, for thousands of the more intelligent and ambitious youth of our State annually enjoy in the higher institutions those advantages which the common schools do not and cannot afford. From these come the great majority of our Teachers, and, ultimately, those who must constitute the best educated and most influential class of our citizens.

It is, then, a question of importance, and becoming more important annually, as population increases, as more abundant wealth affords greater leisure for the pursuits of the student, and as advancing refinement begets and diffuses a more influential public opinion in favor of a higher popular culture.

Can

we, therefore, boast of our educational system, when our common schools are mere ghostly shadows of what ideally they should be, and no one knows or cares what instruction is most valuable of such as our higher schools afford? Whatever may be thought, in general, of the educational writings of Herbert Spencer, all men must acknowlege the truth of the following statement:

2

WISCONSIN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION.

*

"If there needs any further evidence of the rude, undeveloped character of our education, we have it in the fact that the comparative worths of different kinds of knowledge have been as yet scarcely discussed-much less discussed in a methodic way with different results. * ** Men read books on this topic, and attend lectures on that; decide that their children shall be instructed in these branches of knowledge, and shall not be instructed in those; and all under the guidance of mere custom, or liking, or prejudice; without even considering the enormous importance of determining in some rational way what things are really most worth learning."..

It is not unlikely that from its very nature, the discussion of this subject of the relative importance of different studies in disciplining and preparing men for all the varied responsibilities of existence, involves too much of the metaphysical to be interesting to, or even to be understood by, the mass of men. It is not unlikely that here the few must make the law for the many, who lack both the time and the ability for comprehending the foundations of all the beliets they profess.

As Mr. Ruskin has clearly shown that great excellence in Literature or in Art must be received by the mass of men on faith only-a faith unconsciously derived from the judgment of a few superior minds, so in the more important matter of education, those beliefs and practices should be adapted, which spring from the profound investigation or from the experience of the few who alone are entitled by nature and by culture to form original judgments and to mold human opinion. Thus it is that all men acknowledge the claims of Demosthenes as the foremost orator, and of Homer as the greatest poet among men. Thus also none question the right of Shakespeare to the highest honors in our own literature.

Somewhat so, although not precisely, is it in regard to educational theories and practices. The want of parallelism arises not so much from the fact that philosophers are not all at one in these things, as from an igorance on the part of the mass respecting what is the opinion of the wise. All who are competent to form original judgments place Homer and Eschylus, Shakespeare, Milton, and Wordsworth, among the masters respectively of Grecian and English poetry. All competent critics rank Homer above Virgil. These judgments are known and acknowledged as true by all men. The acknowledgments of the mass is a tacit one. It rests upon faith rather than upon reason.

But in respect to education, although the judgment of the competent few is, in most leading points, as unequivocal, the faith of the many is as heterogeneous and as fanciful as the diversity of human character can make it. This is the more unfortunate in proportion as the subject of the mental and moral culture of the young transcends all others in importance. How true it is that 'mere liking, or custom or prejudice" determines the judgment of most people in regard to "what things are really most worth learning,""—or studying, as that seems to me a more accurate expression.

With these preliminary remarks, I shall now proceed to show that, in the opinion of those competent to judge, the classical languages constitute the

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