Part 8 (2/2)
Indeed, however men of talent may strive, there cannot be another Socrates, Plato, or Aristotle; for the printing-press has coone Teachers were philosophers, pupils were followers and disciples, while learning was devoted to the support of speculations and theories
But, while we have no such teachers as those of Athens, and need no such schools as they founded, we have teachers and schools whose character and genius correspond to the age in which we live Teaching is a profession; not noble pursuit, nor a toy of scholastic a the public confidence, requiring great talents, dereat rewards To be the leader of a sect or the founder of a school, is so; but the acceptable teacher is superior to either; he is the first and chief exponent of a popular sovereignty which seeks happiness and i the parts of which it is coathered his hearers, disciples, and pupils, in the streets, groves, and public squares The modern teacher is comparatively secluded; but let him not hence infer that he is without influence Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, had their triuuished than that of a Massachusetts teacher, who, at the age of fourscore years, on a festive day, received fro them were the most eminent of the land--sincere and affectionate assurances of esteeed from the master in opinion, for our systeious; but the faithful teacher will always find the evidence of his fidelity in the lives of those intrusted to his care No position is more important than the teacher's; and his influence is next to that of the parent It is his high and noble province to touch the youthful mind, test its quality, and develop its characteristics He often stands in the place of the parent He aids in giving character to the generations of lory than distinguishes those who build the walls of cities, or lay the foundations of e the birthplace of Hootten, or remembered only because they contested for the honor, while Homer hi is an honor to a city, how illustrious the distinction of those who guide the footsteps of youth along the rugged paths of learning, and develop in a generation the principles of integrity and overnment and hu out of the , or Bowditch, he will have accomplished more than is secured by the devotees of wealth, or the disciples of pleasure As the man is more important than the mere philosopher, so is the modern teacher more elevated than the ancient
The true teacher takes hold of the practical and ele whose chief or sole value is in display
Present gratification is desirable, especially to parents and teachers; but it ress
This is a serious error a us, and it will not readily be abandoned; but it is the duty of teachers, and of all parents who are friends to genuine learning, to aid in its removal We are inclined to treat the period of school-life as though it covered the entire tiht properly to be devoted to education The first result--a result followed by pernicious consequences--is that the teacher is expected to give instruction in every branch that the pupil, as child, youth, or adult, may need to know It is iood Learning is knowledge of subjects based and built upon a thorough acquaintance with their elements The path of duty, therefore, should lead the teacher to h in a few branches, rather than attereat variety of subjects This, to the teacher who is employed in a district or town but three or six months, is a hard course, and , no doubt, must be yielded to parents; but they, too, should be educated to a true view of their children's interests As the world is, a well-spoken decla to parents, andin the vowel-sounds; yet the latter is infinitely ress in the languages nor knowledge of ical discipline This training should be primary in point of time, as well as elementary in character; and a classical education is no adequate compensation
Elements are all-important to the teacher and the student It is not possible to have an idea of a square without soht line, nor to express with pencil or words the arc of a circle without a previous conception of the curve Combination follows in course We are driven to it Our own minds, all nature, all civilization, tend to the combination of elements
We think fast, live fast, learn fast, and, as the fashi+on of the world requires a knowledge of s, we crowd the entire education of our children into the short period of school-life Here, and just here, public senti itself
It should be understood that school-life is to be devoted to the thorough discipline of the mind to study, and to an acquaintance with those siood learning When a knowledge of the elees, mathematics, and all science, may be pursued with enthusiasm and success by a class of men well educated in every departive careful instruction in reading and spelling, for exa of those terms--in the sound and power of letters, in the composition and use of words, and in the natural construction of sentences This, of course, includes a knowledge of graical study, but as a science; not as composed of arbitrary rules,the use and power of language, of which rules and definitions are but an in the teacher to neglect or obscurity He, as well as others, must have faith in the future His reward may be distant, but it is certain
It is, however, likely that the labors of a faithful elementary teacher will be appreciated immediately, and upon the scene of his toil But, if they are not, his pupils, advancing in age and increasing in knowledge, will re labors of their master
We are not so constituted as to labor without h, with others it is low and grovelling The teacher must be himself elevated, or he cannot elevate others The pupil her sphere than that occupied by the teacher; but it is only because he draws froher fountain elsewhere In such cases the success of the pupil is not the success of the master He who labors as a teacher for mere money, or for temporary fa her; for his sordidall pursuits to the low level of his own nature
Yet it is not to be assuyman, is to labor without pecuniary compensation; for, while money should not be the sole object of any man's life, it is, under the influence of our civilization, essential to the happiness of us all Wealth, properly acquired and properly used, may become a means of self-education It purchases relief fro toil of uninterrupted manual labor
It is the only introduction we can have to the thoroughfares of travel by which we are lobe that we inhabit It brings to our firesides books, paintings, and statuary, by which we learn soives us the telescope and the ency we are able to appreciate, even though but imperfectly, the immensity of creation on the one hand, and its infinity on the other The teacher is not to labour without money, nor to despise it ht as well expect the free services of the ratuitous or cheap education of their children While the teacher is educating others, he must also educate himself This he cannot do without both leisure and ood advice for teachers: ”Go, h in your purse” The teacher's h this view of the subject does not, as soht to labor for inadequate coe III was first insane, Dr Willis was called to the i Dr Willis had been educated to the church, and a living had been assigned hi interested in the subject of insanity, he had established an asyluuished position in his new profession The suffering monarch was sadly puzzled to knohy Dr Willis ith hiht there The custodian was not very definite in his explanations, but suggested that he ca in his afflictions; and, said he, ”You know that our Saviour went about doing good”--”Yes,”
said the king, ”but he never received seven hundred pounds a year for it” This was good wit, especially good royal wit, because unexpected
But there is no reason why actualratuitously The co; the ht to be quite different The teacher should labor in his profession because he loves it, because he does good in it, and because he can in that sphere answer a high purpose of existence These being the motives of the teacher, he should educate, draw out, corresponding ones in his pupils
The teacher is not to create--he is to draw out Every child has the germs of many, and, it may be, quite different qualities of character
Look at the infant It is so constituted that it orous e destitute of these physical excellences Yet you will not say that the ele neglected, they followed a law of our nature, that the development of a faculty depends upon its exercise Nature will develop some quality in every man; for our existence demands the exercise of a part of our faculties The faculty used will be developed in excess as compared with other faculties It is the business of the teacher to aid nature For the e, draw out, develop, though it may happen that he will be required occasionally to check a tendency which threatens to absorb or overshadow all the others
He rowth of those pohich tend towards the savage state
While the teacher creates nothing, he must so draw out the qualities of the child that it may attain to perfect manhood He moulds, he renders symmetrical, the physical, the intellectual, the h she would occasionally furnish a iven lines, and fores shall copy, but cannot equal But, do the best we can, education is more or less artificial; and hence the child of the school will suffer by comparison with the child of nature, when she presents him in her best fornified as to attract the notice and command the respect of all who knew him I ith hihts, and never for a moment did the manliness of his character desert him I have seen no other person who could boast such physical beauty Accusto often a pack of thirty or forty or fifty pounds; sleeping upon the ground or a bed of boughs; able, if necessity of interest deood horse would pass over upon our roads; with every organ of the ar, the trunk, fully expressed; with a ent countenance, a beard uncut, in the vigor of early manhood, he seemed a model which the statuaries of Greece and Ro of a soldier and the characteristics of a gentlerammatical rules and definitions, yet his conversation would have been accepted in good circles of New England society This rievous faults, nor did they in any manner affect the qualities of which I have spoken
This is what nature sometimes does; this is e should always strive to do, extending this symmetry, if possible, to the anization This norant of science, of books, of the world of letters, and the world of art, yet we respect him Why? Because nature has chosen to illustrate in him her own principles, power and beauty
That we may draw out the qualities of the human mind as they exist, we must first appreciate our influence upon childhood and youth Our own experience is the best evidence of what that influence is All along our lives the lessons of childhood return to us The hills and valleys, the lakes, rivers, and rivulets, of our early home, come not in clearer visions before us than do the exhortations to industry, the incentives to progress, the lessons of learning, and the principles of truth, uttered and offered by the teachers of early years In the same way the lines of the poet, the reflections of the philosopher, the calm truths of the historian, read once and often carelessly, and for otten, return as voices of inspiration, and are evermore with us
That the teacher may have influence, his ear must be open to the voice of truth, and his ement, and advice He rules in a little world, and the scales of justice o in and out before his scholars free from partiality or prejudice; indifferent to the voice of envy or detraction; shunning evil and eood; patient of inquiries in the hours of duty; filled with the spirit of industry in hisbefore his pupils the choicest gems of literature, art, and science, that they
The public school is a little world, and the teacher rules therein It contains the rich and the poor, the virtuous and the corrupt, the studious and the indifferent, the timid and the brave, the fearful and the hearts elate with hope and courage Life is there no cheat; it wears no mask, it assumes no unnatural positions, but presents itself as it is Deformed and repulsive in some of its features, yet to him whose eye is as quick to discover its beauty as its deforht spot on which heArtificial life, whether in the select school or the select party, tends to weaken our faith in humanity; and a want of faith in our race is an omen of ill-success in life Teachers should have faith in humanity, and should labor constantly to inspire others with the belief that the true law of our nature is the law of progress