Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/730

* SCHONTHAN. 660 SCHOOLS. novel. Also Die cUgaiile lie/'. Ilandbuch dcr voniehmen Lrbcnsarl (0th cd. 1895). SCHOODIC, skoo'dik. A river of Maine. See. Smm t itoix. SCHOOL'CKAFT. He.nby Rowe (17931804). All .iLi(ii(aii i'lhiiolop;ist. lie was born in VVa- U-rvliet (now Guilderland), New York. He studied mineralogy and clieniistiy for a year in I'nion College, and in 1817 began the publication of a work on Vitrcology. In 1817-18 he made a tour of the West, especially through southern ]^lissouri and Arkansas, to study mineralogy and geology. The result was a volume entitled A Vicif of the Lead Mines of Mitt.snuri. In the fol- lowing year he received an appointment from the Goveniment to explore the Upper Mississippi and thceopper regions of Lake Su|)erior. In 1S22 hewas made agent for the tribes about Lake Superior. and thenceforth turned his attention to history and ethnology. In IS,"!! he was one of the princi[ial founders" of the Algic Society, in Detroit, devoted to the antiquities and ethnology of the American aborigines. In 183G he was instrumental in set- tling land disputes with the Chippewas, andbythe treaties then effected the LTnited States became possessed of vast territory, worth many millions of dollars. It was while he was engaged as Super- intendent of Indian Affairs in this Northern De- partment that he published his Algic Researches ( 1 83!) ). From this period Schoolcraft gave his attention to literary' pursuits. His chief contri- bution to the history of Indian affairs was his six quarto volumes entitled Bistorical and Statisticnl Information Respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United ,States (1851-57). The work is partly from his pen and partly a collection of essays of greater or less value by others. Among his other publica- tions the most important are: Oncota : or the Red Race of America (1844) ; ]<lotes on the Iroquois (1840); Perscmal Memoirs _ of a Residence of Thirty Years idth the Indian Tribes on the American Frontiers (1803). SCHOOL DISEASES. See Hygiene. SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL, The. A very jiopiilar comedy by Kicliard Brinsley Sheridan, produced in 1777. Much of the action centres in the devotees of scandal who meet at Lady Sneer- well's house to destroy reputations. Sir Peter and Lady Teazle, Maria, the ward, and the Sur- faces, Charles. Joseph, and Sir Oliver, supply the comie situations, notably the auction scene, in which Charles sells the family portraits, and the screen scene, when Lady Teazle is surprised in Joseph's apartments by Sir Peter and Charles. SCHOOLMASTER. A term sometimes ap- plied in the United States and England to persons engaged in carrying on elementary and secondary instruction. In the great public schools of Eng- land from the beginning schoolmasters have been chosen nsuall.y with considerable care. Most of the charters of the great public schools provided for the election of headmasters from among the Masters of Art of either Oxford or Cambridge University. In the private and charitable schools, before the passage of the Educational Act of 1808, positions of schoolmasters were not infrequently filled by disappointed soldiers of fortune, who were mostly ignorant o? even the elementary subjects which they were intended to teach. ^'ith the establishment of training col- leges for teachers, and the assumption of the re- sponsibility of supervision of education in the latter half" of the nineteenth century by the Eng- lish Government, educational matters took a turn for the better, and the condition of the school- master has since been gradually improving. In the United States the same marked develop- ment in the status of the sclioolmaster may be noticed as in England. In colonial times there were no trained teachers. ^lioever chose to set himself up as schoolmaster was allowed to do so without regard to his previous training or attain- ments. There was no inducement for able young men to enter the teaching profession. Sal- aries were low, and tlie status of a schoolmaster was correspondingly insignificant, and only with the educational awakening of the Horace ilann period begins the rise of teaching as a profession. At eommou law the authority of the schoolmaster over his pupils w-as that of one in loco parentis, and 'where unmodified by statute this rule still persists. SCHOOLMASTER, The. A work on educa- tion by Roger Ascham (1570), which gives his methods of learning Latin and of training chil- dren. SCHOOLMEN. See Scholasticism. SCHOOL OF ATHENS. See Raphael. SCHOOLS (AS. se-Olu, from Lat. scola, schola, learned discussion, lecture, school, from Gk. (7XoX^, sehole, learning, leisure, school ) . Places where instruction is given. The elementary instruction of the Hindu Brah- man is given eitlier out of doors or in some rude building. Instruction is to a large extent oral. The Brahman repeats certain passages which the pupils are expected to learn to recite verbatim. Writing is first practiced in sand. The more advanced grades of Hindu instruction involve ex- tensive reading. In China each pupil provides his writing table and chair, his books and writ- ing materials. The school hours are from sunrise till 5 P.M., with an intermission of an hour from 10 A.M. to 11 A.M. The children learn to pro- nounce the characters in their books by imitating their teacher. Reading matter is committed to memory by repeating it aloud. As the written language differs from the spoken one, these exer- cises are like learning to pronounce and read the characters of a foreign tongue without under- standing their significance. Later on exercises in translation and composition appear. Among the Hebrews the Law was expounded by teachers in the porches of the Temple. The synagogues were used for a similar purpose, and in them children were instructed during the w'eek. The amount of instruction grew until, from being merely an oral teaching of the law, it involved letters and arithmetic. Elementary schools be- came common after the Christian Era, and in A.D. 04 they were made obligatory by the High Priest Joshua ben Gamala. The Spartan educa- tion was chiefly physical, consisting of athletic exercises and dancing, frequently accomjianied by chanting. It was conducted in the open iiir under the guidance of officers called waiiordiioi. Each youth was also under the special charge of an adult, whose oifice was to inspire him to exert his best powers. At Athens the schools were probably all conducted as private ventures. Some were situated in the open air or in the porticoes of temples. There were two classes of schools for