Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 December 1874 — Parents Helping Children in Study. [ARTICLE]

Parents Helping Children in Study.

“Ax Experienced Teacher”writes as follows to the New York Observer: “We teachers feel that the aid which parents win persist in giving to their children at home is a great hindrance to their improvement, and, consequently, a great injustice done to us- The teacher, for instance, gives a pupil a lesson consisting of questions on the map. He wishes him to look for the answers himself, and, by habit, to gain facility in finding places. The child, if he cannot find a place immediately, asks the parent to find it for him. He complies; when, if .he had refused, the child would have found it by himself after a time, and, while looking for the particular place, would have gained a general knowledge of the situation of places on the map which would have been useful at other times. He would also have been forming the habit of self-dependence. “ Take another case. A teacher, after he has, m the class, explained a certain rule in arithmetic, and made the pupils perform examples under that rule till the process has become familiar, gives them some examples to be done out of class. A pupil carelessly makes mistakes in doing them. The teacher would tell him to look till he found his mistake and correct it. This would be a good mental discipline. He takes the example to his parent, who finds the mistake for him, and thus encourages bad habits.

“Again, in arithmetic and algebra, problems are often given, concerning which there are no particular directions in the book, but the benefit of which consists in the thought which the pupil is obliged to exercise in regard to the manner in which they are to be solved. In such a case, if the parent tells him how to do them, does he not injure his child? Who, then, has reason to complain—the parent or the teacher, whose efforts to discipline the mind of the pupil are rendered unavailing by the interference of the parent ? But the parent will reply, ‘lf I do not assist my child, he will lose his marks or his standing in the class.’ If you have committed the training of your child te a judicious teacher he will not make him lose credit because, after having worked a sufficient time over a problem, he has not been able to solve it. He will reward him for the effort, whether that effort is successful or not. If the pupil has made a mistake through carelessness, making him lose his marks will be the best way to make him more careful another time. “ In studies which are not mathematical it will often happen that in a new lesson there is something which a child cannot understand. In such a case the judicious teacher will not blame the child for nothing able to recite that particular paragraph, but will explain it to him, and the explanations thus given help to make the recitation interesting. “ Again, how many parents help their children in writing compositions; thus not only preventing them from strengthening the powers of their own minds by exercise, but teaching them to try to deceive their teachers. I say try, for the experienced teacher will not often be deceived. If he is judicious, he will give the pupil no credit for what he has done with the assistance of another, 4>ut will reward him for his own exertions, however many faults there may be in his style. The object is, not to have a wellwritten essay copied by the pupil, but to teach him to express his own thoughts with facility. “ But it may be said that all teachers are not judicious in regard to this thing. Then let the parent send his child to one who is; and, even if this is impossible, would it not be better to let him lose his marks or his standing in the class than to let him lose the benefits of proper mental discipline? “ I hope that what I have said may lead some thoughtful parents to a different course from that which they have pursued, and I thinfe they will find that their children will have their powers of mind more thoroughly educated (drawn out) than by the former method.” To the above the Observer adds the following: “ These points are well made, and we have but one suggestion to add. Children should not be required nor permitted to take any books home from school, nor to learn any lessons nor to write compositions out of school. Six hours a day in school is time enough for children to be employed in study and recitations. Apply this rule, and there will be no further discussion of the question so well answered by ‘An Experienced Teacher.’ ”