School Furniture Works, ESTABLISHED 1838. The Pioneer and most Extensive Establishment in the U. States. EL An Illustrated Catalogue and information forwarded, on application, by mail or N. B. EVERY ARTICLE OF SCHOOL FURNITURE FROM THIS ESTABLISH MENT WILL BE WARRANTED. ALL COMMUNICATIONS MAY BE ADDRESSED то JOSEPH L. ROSS, Office, CHARDON, opp. HAWKINS STREET, (NEAR THE REVERE HOUSE,) BOSTON, MASS. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860 by JOSEPH L. Ross, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. THE Connecticut Common School Journal, AND ANNALS OF EDUCATION. VOL. XI. NEW BRITAIN, DECEMBER, 1864. No. 12. IMPORTANCE OF THE COMMON BRANCHES. Ir seems, at least to the writer of the following remarks, that in many of our schools, the importance of the common branches is greatly overlooked. There is, in many cases, a haste to reach the higher fields of study. There is not unfrequently a larger number of branches than can properly receive attention. And there is also, on the part of many teachers, an underestimate of the subject of which we now speak. From these, and perhaps other causes, there has arisen the habit of giving but slight attention to those matters that lie at the foundation, without a good deal of which no education is even tolerably complete. Hence, for example, spelling has fallen into disrepute, or at least into disuse, in the schoolroom. Time was when this was a cardinal pursuit; it held a high place among the studies that engaged attention. Many a man now aged, or even in middle life, can remember the long file of the spelling class, with its honorable head and its far less honorable foot; he can recall the offered preVOL. XI. 21 V. 19, no. 12 322 1864 Importance of the Common Branches. mium; offered and perhaps by him won; and also the spelling-school, with its sharp competition, and for one side at least, its successful fight. These things have, in most schools, for the greater part gone by, and in the want of other means to fill their place, we think it may be said, that this branch has fallen into neglect. So also the number of good readers, and of those who can write a fair, legible hand, is lamentably sinall, in comparison with the whole number of those who attend school even for many years. Similar remarks might be made of other branches. We too often forget the proverb: "A little, well learned, is better than much poorly learned." We are well aware, that a great difficulty exists here, in the great variety of studies that common usage forces upon the attention. Our early laws contemplated a much smaller variety for common schools; they mention only arithmetic, grammar, geography, history of the United States, together with spelling, reading, and writing. They mention also "good behavior," but probably that was to be inculcated by example and occasional precept, rather than by regular instruction. It would be not altogether unfortunate, if while our laws permitted so much, they had prohibited any more. But most schools, even in the least favored districts, have a much longer "curriculum" than this; boys now-a-days dip into the "Pierian spring," with much larger cups than their fathers did before them. Many branches not mentioned in the Revised Statutes are introduced; and then even, if attention is confined to the strictly fundamental studies, there are such facilities for climbing the hill of knowledge, that the more primary and important parts are soon passed over, and, as the result shows, superficially passed over. Hence the fruits of our school training are often unsatisfactory; where we should see accuracy and care, we too often see only blun dering and the want of care. It was the remark of Sir Walter Scott, in the days of his fame, that he would willingly sacrifice one-half of his reputation, if he could place the other half on the basis of a sound education in the elementary branches. Many a business man and professional man |