The National Teacher (Volume 1); A Monthly Educational Journal (Paperback)

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1871. Excerpt: ... THE NATIONAL TEACHER. E. E. WHITE, Editor. Vol 1. NOVEMBER, 187 1. No.lt. THE SCHOOLS OF SWITZERLAND. BY B. G. NORTHROP, CONNECTICUT. A visit to over a hundred schools in the different cantons, has greatly enhanced my appreciation of the Swiss System of Public Instruction. The Swiss are a progressive people, and their excellent educational system is both the evidence and cause of their general advancement. It contains some features worthy of imitation. The schools are supported by tho State, are free to all are well attended, and highly prized by the people. In the studies of geography and arithmetic, their methods are inferior to those adopted in America, but in language-exercises, history, and drawing, they greatly excel. The mastery of the mother tongue is the first aim, while the culture of the expressive faculties is made very prominent. They justly regard language as not only the medium of thought, but the chief agent in cultivating the memory and taste. The disciplinary influence of the study of languago is kept in view, and to talk well is held to be a noble art. The daily school drills aim at this grand attainment. Choice selections of poetry and prose are committed to memory, and recited almost daily. Starting early, tho memory is trained with surprising facility. I have been greatly pleased with the recitations of poetry by young pupils, --long passages being given without hesitation or mistake. The fact that there are three races in Switzerland, --German, French, and Italian, --and that these three languages are spoken in the Federal Assembly, as well as in commercial intercourse, i DEGREESives a practical interest to the study of the modern languages. Besides "the vernacular," the study of French or German is required in the schools, and is begun at a tender age. The faculty of l...