8vo, Cloth, $1 00.
An interesting and valuable work, in which the science of teaching is treated in a philosophical and practical manner, and a sketch is given of a school to be established on the principles developed in his pages. Mr. Sands takes the view that education, mental and physical, is but the absorption of surrounding elements into the mind and body—an arrangement and assimilation of materials so as to incorporate them into the being to whose nourishment they are applied, just as the tree or plant assimilates to its growth and subsistence the materials which it draws from the air and the soil; and his theory of teaching is based on these truths.—N. Y. Times.
He advocates a radical change in the system of teaching youth. He proposes a school where pupils shall be taught by illustrations from nature as well as from books; where the museum, chemical laboratory, and workshop shall find a place; where, in short, the mind of the learner shall not be forced, but shall have just the kind of food suitable for its age and development.—N. Y. World.
Much has been written upon education—much that is both wise and thoughtful, and much that has been but sound. Among the most thoughtful and suggestive recent writings is an unpretentious work bearing the title of “The Teacher, the Pupil, the School,” by Mr. Nathaniel Sands. Small as it is, it contains more ideas than many bulky volumes.—N. Y. Tribune.
The question with which he mainly concerns himself is whether Latin and Greek, and certain other branches, shall be taught to the exclusion of more practical studies. He thinks that what is commonly known as the “culture demanded by modern life”—chemistry, mining, anatomy, natural history, political and social economy, the science of government, etc.—should take the place now usurped by classical studies. Mr. Sands believes in making no compromise between the useful sciences and the classics. He condemns “as worse than mere waste of time the years devoted to Greek and Latin,” and would bar them out altogether.—Journal of Commerce.
Mr. Sands, who has just been appointed one of the new Board of Education, has long been known as an advanced thinker on the subject he is now called upon to deal with. He has published a pamphlet on the Philosophy of Education.—N. Y. Sun.
We have in this compact and unpretentious treatise a great deal of pith and acumen, brought to bear upon a most important subject—that of educational first principles. Mr. Sands has gone to the base of human teaching, discarding pretentious themes, in order to illustrate the simpler beauty of that eductive and inductive co-relationship which, beginning at the mother’s breast, proceeds through all the quiet processes of mental development in infancy, childhood, and maturity.—N. Y. Dispatch.
His hints may well arrest the attention of thoughtful men.—N. Y. Tribune.
We commend it to the thoughtful consideration of all, but especially of our public men. * * * Commissioners of Schools and others charged with youthful training may advantageously consider the reflections.—N. Y. Evening Post.