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tone , not only to enable the pupils better to understand what they read there , but also to give them a taste for profitable reading " , and make them understand whatever they should afterwards have occasion to read . " With this view Mr . W . proceeded to introduce the system which we shall endeavour to explain , and in order the better to accomplish the object-in view , there was compiled ( we presume by himself ) a series of books , much more suitable to such a school than those which were then in use . The
good effects of this were soon manifested in the increased interest which the children took in their studies , ( in consequence of which a small circulating library was annexed to the institution , ) as well as in the increased number of applications for admission , which induced the directors to build a new and more commodious school-room . This was entered upon towards the close of the year 1824 . Such being the history of this school , we shall now give some account of the system on which it is conducted— at least such parts of it as are characteristic of the school , and to describe which we shall adopt the author ' s own words :
" Before entering * ujion the consideration of the reading department , it may be proper to premise some general observations on that method of explanation which has been so highly approved of in the Sessional School . Its object is threefold : first , To render more easy and pleasing the acquisition of the mechanical art of reading ; secondly , To turn to advantage the particular instruction contained in every individual passage which is read ; and , above all , thirdly , To give the pupil , b y means of a minute analysis of each passage , a general command of his own language .
" It is of great importance to the proper understanding * of the method , that all these objects should be kept distinctly in view . With regard to theJirst , no one , who has not witnessed the scheme in operation , can well imagine the animation and energy which it inspires . It is the constant remark or almost every stranger who visits the Sessional School , that its pupifs have not at all
the ordinary appearance of school-boys doomed to an unwilling task , but rather the happy faces of children at their sports . This distinction is chiefly to be attributed to that part of the system , of which we are here treating ; by which , in place of harassing the pupil with a mere mechanical routine of sounds and technicalities , his attention is excited , his curiosity is gratified , and his fancy is amused .
" In the second place , when proper books are put into the hands of the scholars , every article which they read may be made the means , not only of forming in their youthful minds the invaluable habit of attention , but also of communicating to them , along with facility in the art of reading " , much information , which is both adapted to their present age , and may Be of use to
them for the rest of their lives . How different is the result , where the mechanical art is made the exclusive object of the master ' s and the pupil ' s attention I How many fine passages have been read m tbe most pompous manner ^ without rousing a single sentiment in the mind of the performer I How many , in which they have left behind them only the most erroneous and absurd impressions and associations ! Of such associations , if we remember
right , Miss Hamilton , in one of her works upon education , affords some striking examples from her personal experience . To these we may add ; another , furnished by a gentleman of our acquaintance , which , strong ets it is , will , we believe , be recognized by most of our readers , as too true a picture of what * from a similar cause , has not unfrequenfly occurred to themselves . He had been accustomed , like most school-boys , to read , and probably to repeat , without the slightest attention to the sense , Gray ' s Elegy , not uncommonl y known in school by the name of * The curfew tolls * * What either ' , curfew' or ' tolls' meant , he , according to custom , knew nothing , Hte
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Edinburgh Sessional School . 379
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1829, page 379, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2573/page/11/
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