A Book Review of The Hoosier School—Master： Issues Related to the Progress of Education

胡金玲

【Abstract】The author Eggleston portrayed Ralph， a schoolmasters teaching life in a typical Indiana community in the middle of the 19th century in the novel The Hoosier School-Master. Eggleston discussed a variety of topics， such as the format of school， the relationship between teacher and students， the connection between religion and education， teachers welfare， etc. In this book review， I support the point that the content of education and the relationship between teacher and students are related to the progress of school education. Teachers need to pay attention to students daily life and teach them moral lessons. Students need not only to learn knowledge on textbooks， but also morally educated and be taken care of in daily life. In this way， the goal of making progress of education could be successfully achieved.

【Key words】content of education； relationship between teachers and students

In the novel The Hoosier School-Master， the author Edward Eggleston portrayed Ralph， a schoolmasters teaching life in Flat Creek， a typical Indiana community in the middle of the 19th century. The novel gained popularity worldwide immediately after its publication and even caused the re-prosperity of spelling contest. Various topics were conveyed by Eggleston， such as the format of school， the relationship between teacher and students， the connection between religion and education， teachers welfare， etc. The most impressive issues， as far as I am concerned， are the content of education and the relationship between teacher and students. I strongly support the view that the content of education and the relationship between teacher and students are related to the progress of school education.

For one thing， the content of education is crucial to the development of education. The spelling school was the most prevailing school format in the middle of 19th century. The spelling contest was even regarded as a form of entertainment at that period of time. Memorizing words was an important skill for each student to master. However， this format of school emphasized too much the memorizing skills. Even Ralph， the schoolmaster， had the pressure that he may be defeated in the spelling contest. Was memorizing skills sufficient and efficient enough for the high-quality education？ As Eggleston described that students were required to memorize some words of which they even did not know the meanings. Even though they could spell some difficult words， it does not mean that they were educated successfully. It was an educational bureaucracy in a sense. Whats more， childrens intelligence could not be measured in the way that how many words they could spell. The school education should not turn students into memorizing machines. Childhood education needs more besides memorization training. In other words， the curriculum should be designed to lead students to develop various practical skills. On the other hand， children need not only to learn knowledge on textbooks， but also morally educated and be took care in daily life. Take one of the students Mirandy as an example. She felt in love with Ralph， the schoolmaster， though Ralph did not love her at all. This indicates that students need moral guidance as well as knowledge from textbooks. Paying attention to students daily life rather than merely concentrating on in-class teaching and activities is necessary to be counted into the content of school education.

Although we should not pay too much attention to memorizing skill， its significance should not be ignored. Currently， the memorizing skill is still necessary for students， especially for childhood language education. The basic skill for children to acquire a language is memorizing. The imitation and practice of language cannot be efficient if lacking of memorization of words and sentences.

For another， the relationship between teachers and students seems to be the timeless element of education， which has a close connection with education development. In The Hoosier School-Master， Eggleston described at first how the students treated Ralph， their schoolmaster. Judging from an ordinary readers view， the description of how the children made fun of their teacher with a puppy is really interesting. Obviously， the mischievous behavior of the children indicated that they did not respect their teacher， or they did not know how to respect him. In this case， how could they follow the teachers instructions and be educated by him？ It seemed that Ralph had a real challenge in controlling the whole class initially. That was why he was warned repeatedly by Mr. Means that he would be driven off by the students. In our modern society， it is a common rule that to show respect to the teacher is one of the main duties for every student. It does not necessarily mean that teacher is the absolute authority， but just because a teacher， who takes the responsibility of educating every generation， deserves it. Furthermore， it is the basis for establishing and maintaining a good relationship between teachers and students. In other words， teachers should have control of the classroom in order to create an appropriate environment for learning. And eventually， Ralph succeeded.

The disrespect of the students formed a sharp contrast with the relationship between students and teachers in the common schools from 1870-1910. At that period of time， standardization was the main theme of school education. A rigid， bureaucratic educational system was established to serve the growing number of children in the urban area. Students were taught to obey their teachers commands and were trained into the practice of self-control. In short， the aim of schools was to produce homogeneous good citizen. However， viewing from a modern perspective， neither of these two types of extreme relationships is suitable to the progress of schools. Students should not be either merely obedient or disrespectful. Once I was a teaching volunteer in Hong An Town， one of the poorest rural town in China. Some of my students there were very obedient， so I thought originally that they would be easy to teach. But the fact was that although they followed each of my instructions， they did not have much of their own thoughts. They were greatly dependent on me and lacking of the courage to question me. I was the only supreme authority to them. However， I was not intended to be a queen， and I did not need homogeneous good citizens. I realized that the active interaction between teacher and students would be largely conducive to teaching and learning.

To sum up， the development of school education relies greatly on the content of education and the relationship between teacher and students. Memorizing skill and other practical competence should be both weighed. And teachers cannot just leave the titles in the classroom， they instead need to pay attention to students daily life and teach them moral lessons. Also， students are responsible for respecting their teacher， in order to establishing a harmonious relationship between the teacher and themselves. In this way， the goal of making progress of education could be successfully achieved.

*本文受華中師范大學2017年中央高校基本科研業務費項目“丹桂計劃”項目資助， 此文為項目 “構建大學英語學習中心課堂研究”的階段性成果， 項目編號： CCNU17A03010。