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Paper, 16mo, pp. 27 15 THEORY AND PRACTICE TEACHING THE MOTIVES AND METHODS GOOD SCHOOL-KEEPING BY DAVID P. PAGE READING-CIRCLE EDITION With Notes, and a Topical Index for Reviews AN 1^1894 SYRACUSE, N. Y. ^2^33^ C. W. BARDEEN, PUBLISHER 1893 Copyright, 1893, by C. W. Bardebn h LB/025 PREFACE TO THE READINfi-CIRCLE EDITION NO other Ameri claim as thi •ican book on teaching has so much this to be considered a classic. For nearly fifty years it has been regarded almost univer- sally as the one book the young teacher would most profit by. A hundred thousand teachers have drawn help and inspiration from its pages. It seems only just to the author of a work so success- ful that his book should be printed just as he wrote it. The day is past when commentators re-write Shakspere. They may annotate and explain and conjecture, but they take the text as they find it, and print their ob- servations in another type. This book has been less fortunate. In different editions issued since Mr. Page's death chapters have been added, details have been changed, passages have been entirely rewritten. This volume goes back to the book that Mr. Page published, and follows word for word the text of the only edition he ever authorized. Where the times have changed and we in them, references to present condi- tions are given in the Notes that follow, which are also in some part explanatory and historical. (V) VI PREFACE TO THE READING-CIECLE EDITIOK III place of the table of contents there is appended a minute tabular analysis for review, which the different sizes of type will make it easy to consult. When a subject is first mentioned, the page reference gives also the subsequent pages on which the same subject is treated. In short, the effort has been to present Mr. Pagers book as Mr. Page wrote it, with such added helps as will make it of most use. C. W. Bardeen. Syracuse, Dec. 4, 1893. PREFACE MANY a meritorious look has failed to find read- ers by reason of a toilsome preface. If the following volume meets a similar fate, whatever its merits it shall lack a like excuse. This work has had its origin in a desire to contribute something toward elevating an important and rising profession. Its matter comprises the substance of a part of the course of lectures addressed to the classes of the Institution under my charge, during the past two years. Those lectures, unwritten at first, were de- livered in a familiar, colloquial style, — their main object being the inculcation of such practical views as would best promote the improvement of the teacher. In writing the matter out for the press, the same style, to considerable extent, has been retained, — as I have written with an aim at usefulness rather than rhetorical effect. If the term theory in the title suggests to any mind the bad sense sometimes conveyed by that word, I would simply say that I have not been dealing in the speculative dreams of the closet, but in convictions de- (vil) Vlll PREFACE rived from the realities of the schoolroom during some twenty years of actual service as a teacher. Theory may justly mean the scie7ice distinguished from the art of Teaching, — but as in practice these should never be divorced, so in the following chapters I have endeavored constantly to illustrate the one by the other. If life should be spared and other circumstances should warrant the undertaking, perhaps a further course comprising the Details of Teaching may, at some future time, assume a similar form to complete my original design. David P. Page State Normal School, i Allany, N. Z., Jan, i, 1847] A SHORT BIOGRAPHY or DAVID PERKINS PAGE Brief Summary DAVID PERKINS PAGE was born July 4, 1810, at Epping, N. H.; from sixteen to seventeen spent one year at Hampton Academy ; taught in small schools for four years ; at twenty-one became vice-prin- cipal of the school at Newburyport, Mass.; and at thirty-four, w^as made 2:>rincipal of the State Normal School at Albany 5 N. Y., where he died January 1, 1848, aged thirty-seven. This seems a short biography, but it is the biography of a great man. Let us consider his life in its five periods : (1) his early days ; (2) his academy life ; (3) his preliminary teaching ; (4) his work at Newbury- port ; (5) his work at Albany. (1) His Early Days His father was a farmer, and meant that David should be one. So the boy had only the scant education of the rudimentary district school. He hungered for more (9) 10 DAVID PERKINS PAGE learning, pored at night over the few books the house afforded, and implored his father for permission to attend the nearest academy. The father was obdurate until he saw the boy in his seventeenth year stretched on a bed of sickness that threatened to be fatal. As the father hovered over him, the seemingly dying boy turned his full eyes upon him, and asked almost inaudi- bly : ^' Father if I get well may I go to the Academy ?'' This was indeed the ruling passion strong in death. The father could no longer resist, the promise was given, the boy recovered, and his life-work was determined on : he was to be not a farmer but a teacher. (2) His Academy Life Hampton Academy was founded in 1810, and was at this time a crude institution struggling feebly to give means for a higher education. But rudimentary as it was, the students had already the cliques and castes and the regard for outward appearance that have not yet disappeared from our secondary schools, and David was made to feel his inferiority. *^ Here," says Horace Mann, "^^he encountered, for the first time in his life, that feeling so common and yet so contemptible, which assigns social rank and esti- mation not according to moral and intellectual worth, but to the cloth one can afford to buy, or to the tailor one employs. He was dressed in the plain garb of a HIS PRELIMINARY TEACHING 11 farmer^s boy. He met at the Academy specimens of that class of young men upon the texture and style of whose garments their parents had expended their money and skill, but had reserved none for the refinement and elevation of their minds. Polished on the outside, they were the rudest of boors within ; gentlemen only so far as an ape or a swine might be called a gentleman if arrayed in fine linen, broadcloth, or silk ; whose bodies may live in a palace, but whose souls grovel in a sty. To their gibes and jeers he was subjected, and doubtless his mind here got what Paley calls ' a holding turn ^ — an unspeakable contempt for the pretensions that are founded on wealth or habiliments, and a profound religious respect for moral worth. ^^ (3) His Preliminary Teaching It was the custom in those days for the poorer academy students to teach during the winter, and David took a district school for the usual period. Altogether he spent less than a year at the Academy, and he taught the next winter in his native town. "The next winter,'' says Barnard, *^'he had deter- mined to make teaching a profession, and accordingly, having taught a district school at Newbury, Mass., during the winter, at its close he opened a private school ; a daring step for a young man but nineteen years of age, and who had enjoyed so few advantages of education, but the success which followed fully justified 12 DAVID PERKIKS PAGE the self-reliance which led him to attempt it. At the beginning he had five pnpils, but he persevered, and before the close of the term, the number he had con- templated was full. *' Here, as every where else, during his career as a teacher, was manifested that diligence, industry, and careful preparation for his duties, which made him so eminently successful. He studied the lessons he was to teach, thoroughly, that he might impart instruction with that freshness and interest which such study would give ; he studied his scholars, thoroughly, that he might adaj)t his teachings to their several capacities, encour- aging the diffident and sluggish, restraining the for- ward, and rousing the listless and careless to unwonted interest and energy ; he studied, too, their moral natures, and sought to wake in their youthful hearts aspirations for goodness and purity ; and he studied whatever would enlarge his sphere of thouglit, intelli- gence, and professional usefulness.* ^' Such a teacher was sure to rise in reputation ; slowly, perhaps, but certainly, and hence it need not surprise us to learn that, within two years, he was * Gideon F. Tliayer relates that when he saw him last, hardly a month before his death, Mr. Page said that he had become somewhat familiar with Latin, but had not yet made much progress in Greek. "I Intend, however," he added with enthusiasm, " to master that, too, within the coming year, If my life is spared," HIS WORK AT NEWBURYPORT I^ associate principal of the Newburyport High School, having charge of the English department/' (4) His Work at Newburyport Here for twelve years he was associated with Roger S. Howard, Esq., one of the most eminent teachers in Massachusetts, and how well he fulfilled his duties, Mr. Howard, who survived him, testified. The same intense fondness for study characterized him, leading him to acquire a very competent knowledge of the Latin language, and something of the Greek ; the same earn- est and conscientious performance of all his school duties, and delight in them, was manifested here as in his humbler position. It was while occupying this post, that he first began to come before the public as a lecturer. An incident related by Horace Mann shows how Mr. Page escaped one of the pitfalls that even more then than now beset tlie unwary teacher. The author of a series of school-books laid a plan to ensnare Mr. Page, and secure his influence in favor of their introduction into the Newburyport schools. Sup- posing that Mr. Page would be actuated by mercenary motives like himself, he approached him on the side of acquisitiveness. Being a member of a school committee which gave much higher salaries to masters than Mr. Page was receiving, he used the lure of promotion to a better rewarded field of labor. He represented to Mr. 14 DAVID PERKINS PAGE Page that a vacancy was about to occur which he, the bookmaker, could probably fill with his own nominee, and in flattering terms proffered his influence to Mr. Page in favor of the successorship. But at the close of this disinterested interview was a pregnant suggestion that before the transfer from the old to the new position Mr. Page should secure tlie adoption of the aforesaid author's books in the schools of the town he was to leave. This opened his eyes. On inquiry he found that no such vacancy was about to occur, and that the whole train of inducements which had been set before him was a fabrication, having no other object than to suborn his influence in favor of the books in question. ^^More than once,'' says Mr. Mann, ''have I heard Mr. Page express his scorn and detestation of this piece of knavery, with the hope that the time might some time come when, at some meeting of the friends of education, in the presence of the culprit himself, he might have an opportunity to recount these facts and publicly fasten their infamy upon their author." As A Lecturer But Mr. Page had already become more than a teacher in the Newburyport high school. We quote from Dr. Barnard : "He was an active and prominent member of the Essex County Teachers' Association, one of the most efficient educational organizations in Massachusetts, HIS WORK AT ALBAiTY 1^ and delivered before that body several lectures, which Hon. Horace Mann characterized as the best ever de- livered before that or any other body. Of one of these, on 'The Mutual Duties of Parents and Teachers,' six thousand copies were printed and distributed (3,000 of them at Mr. Mann's expense), throughout the State. Of his lecture before the American Institute of Instruc- tion in 1843 on ' Advancement in the Means and Methods of Public Instruction' two thousand copies were printed at the expense of the Institute. ''Mr. Page's powers as an orator and debater were of a very high order ; he possessed, says Mr. Mann (himself an orator of no mean rank), that rare quality, so indispensable to an orator, the poiuer to thinh, stand- ing on Ms feet y and before folks, " As a teacher, he exhibited two valuable qualifica- tions ; the ability to turn the attention of his pupils to the principles which explain facts, and in such a way that they could see clearly the connection ; and the talent for reading the character of his scholars so accurately that he could at once discern what were their governing passions and tendencies, what in them need encouragement and what repression. Thus, use- ful, active, and growing in reputation, Mr. Page re- mained at Newburyport till December, 1844." (5) His Work at Albany In the winter preceding, the legislature of New York, to continue Dr, Barnard's account, wearied with th^ 16^ DAVID PERKIKS PAGE costly but unsuccessful measures which, year after year, had been adopted for the improvement of her public schools, had appointed a committee of its own body, warm friends of education, to visit the normal schools of Massachusetts, and make a report thereon. The com- mittee attended to their duties, and made an elaborate report in favor of the adoption of the normal school system. That report was adopted, and an appropriation of $10,000 a year outfit, and $10,000 for five years, was voted, to establish a normal school, as an experiment. The friends of education in New York felt that, lib- eral as this api^ropriation was, everything depended upon securing the right man to take charge of it, and long and carefully did they ponder the question, who that man should be. Mr. Page's reputation had already outrun the town and the county in which he resided ; and, on the recommendation of Horace Mann and other friends of education in Massachusetts, Alonzo Potter, Col. Young, Francis D wight, and other mem- bers of the committee, entered into correspondence with him on the subject. In reply to the first communication, he addressed numerous inquiries to the committee concerning the plan proposed for the organization and management of the school. These questions were so pointed, and so well chosen, that Col. Young, on hearing them, at once exclaimed, ^'Tliat is the man we need," and expressed himself entirely satisfied, without any further evidence* HIS WORK AT ALBANY 17 So cautious, however, were the committee, that it was decided that before closing the negotiation Dr. Potter should visit Xewburyport, and have a personal inter- view with Mr. Page. He accordingly went there, called at Mr. Pagers residence, and found him in his every-day dress, and engaged in some mechanical work connected with the improvement of his dwelling. An interview of a single half hour so fully prepossessed him with Mr. Pagers personal bearing and conversation, that he at once closed the negotiations with him, and secured his services as principal of the New York State Normal School. Mr. Page closed his connection with the Newburyport High School about the middle of December, 1844 ; not without numberless demonstrations of regret and affec- tionate regard on the part of his pupils and friends. While on his way to Albany, he spent a night with Mr. Mann, in Boston ; and the new duties he was about to undertake, the obstacles and difficulties, the opposition and misrepresentations he would meet, and the impor- tance and necessity of success, formed themes of con- verse which occupied them till the early morning hours. In parting Mr. Mann said to Mr. Page, as a veteran commander might have said to a youthful officer going to lead a forlorn hope, ''Succeed or die.'' The words sank deep into his heart ; they were adopted as his motto in the brief but brilliant career which fol- 18 DAVID PERKINS PAGE lowed ; and once, on recovering from a dangerous illness, he reminded liis friend of his injunction, and added, '^ I thought I was about to fulfil the last alternative." Mrs. Sigourney made this injunction of Horace Mann the subject of her well-known poem : " Succeed or die," Teacher, was that thy creed ? The motto on thy banner, when thou earnest A soldier to the field ? " Succeed or die." 'Twas graven on thy shield. Unresting toil Won the first trophy, as the grateful heart Of many a youth to patient knowledge trained Doth testify with tears ; while many a man Crowned by his Alma Mather, from the post Of honor or of care, remembereth well Whose strong, persuasive nurture led him there. So thy first goal was gained. But for the next The Excelsior of tliy creed ; — methinks the first Involved the second ; for to die like thee Was but the climax of a full success. Taking its last reward. Yea, such reward As waiteth those who the young soul shall turn To righteousness, — a name above the stars, That in the cloudless firmament of God Forever shine. He arrived at Albany a few days before the com- mencement of the '^experiment," as the normal school HIS WORK AT ALBANY 19 was designated, and found everything in a chaotic state. The rooms intended for his accommodation were as yet unfinished ; there was no organization, no apparatus. Indeed he found very few of the appliances necessary to a successful beginning. While the few were hoping, though not without fear, for its success, the many were prophesying its utter failure. From this chaos, the systematic mind of Mr. Page soon evolved order ; full of hope, and confident of the success of the normal school system himself, he infused energy and courage into the hearts of its desponding friends, and caused its enemies to falter as they saw how all obstacles yielded to the fascination of his pres- ence, or the power of his will. The school commenced with twenty-five scholars, but . before the close of its first term the number had increased to one hundred. At the commencement of the second term, two hundred assembled for instruction. From this time its course was onward ; every term increased its popularity ; and the accommodations provided for it, large as they were, w^ere soon crowded. For the first three years it had to contend with numer- ous and unscrupulous foes, some of whom attacked the system, others its practical workings, others still, who were strangers to his person, attacked the character of the principal of the school. Meantime, Mr. Page labored indefatigably ; against the assaults upon the 20 DAVID PERKINS PAGE organization or its practical operations, lie interposed able, manly, and courteous defences ; those which were leveled at himself, he bore in silence ; but no man, whatever his position in the State, and however bitter might have been his hostility to the school, or to its principal, ever came within the magnetism of his pres- ence and influence, without being changed from an enemy to a friend. Among the most decided, as well as the most conscientious opposers of the normal school, was the Hon. Silas Wright ; indeed, in his election as governor, the enemies of the school claimed a triumph, and counted largely on his eminent abilities to aid them in putting it down ; but a very few months' residence in Albany converted this man, of strong and determined will, into one of its sincerest friends. The recognition of his power as an advocate was well shown at the meeting of the State Teachers' Associa- tion at Rochester, in 1846. The academic and college interests of the State had combined against the Normal School, and meant to commit the Association to a vote that it wanted no such an institution. But Mr. Page heard of it, and sat upon the platform throughout the session. The prime movers knew that if the motion came up he would speak upon it, and that if he spoke upon it it was hopelessly lost ; so the movement col- lapsed. During the vacations of the school, Mr. Page gave himself no rest ; he visited different parts of the State,, HIS WORK AT ALBANY 21 attended teachers' institutes, lectured day after day, and, wherever lie went, removed prejudices, cleared up doubts, and won golden opinions. Every such visit drew the ensuing term a large number of pupils to the school from the section visited. The State Superin- tendent was accustomed to say, that " he needed only to look at the catalogue of the Normal school to tell where Mr. Page had spent his vacations." Before four years had passed, the school had ceased to be an *' experiment '' ; it was too firmly rooted in the hearts of the people to be abandoned, and the opposi- tion, which had at first been so formidable, had dwindled into insignificance. But the toil requisite to accom- plish this had been too arduous for any constitution, however vigorous, to endure. The autumnal term of 1847 found him cheerful and hopeful as ever, but with waning physical strength. It had been his custom to call on every one of his pupils at his boarding-place, and this time he said to his fellow teachers : "I have visited them all ; it is a severe task. It is too much for me alone and hereafter I must have your aid."' At lengtli he consented to take a vacation of a week or two during the Christmas holidays. Alas ! the relaxation came too late ; the evening be- fore he was to leave, there was a meeting of the faculty at his residence ; he was cheerful, but complained of slight indisposition, and retired early. With the nighty 22 DAVID PERKINS PAGE however, came violent fever, and restlessness, and by the morning light, the physicians in attendance pro- nounced the disease pneumonia. At first the attack excited little alarm, but it soon became evident that his overtasked vital powers had not the ability to resist the violence of the disorder. On the fourth day, he ex- pressed to a friend his conviction that he should not recover. The severity of the disease soon increased, and, on the morning of New Year% 1848, he passed away. Six months before his death, he had, in company with one of his teachers, Wm. F. Phelps, made a brief visit to his former home, at Newburyport ; and while visiting the beautiful cemetery there, he stopped sud- denly near a shady spot, and said, ^' Here is where I desire to be buried." The sad funeral train which bore frorii Albany to Newbury port, the clay that once had been his earthly habitation, laid it sadly, yet hopefully, in that quiet nook, to repose till the archangels trump shall be heard, and the dead be raised. His life had been short, as men count time ; he lacked six months of completing his thirty-eighth year when he was summoned to the better land ; but if life be reckoned by what is accomplished, then had his life been longer far than that of the antediluvian partri- archs. Of the hundreds of teachers who were under his care at Albany, there was not one who did not look HIS WORK AT ALBANY 23 up to him with admiration and love ; not one who did not bear, to some extent, at least, the impress of his character and influence ; and it is doing no injustice to those who have so worthily succeeded him, to say that a very large part of the progress which the Empire State has made in the cause of education has been from the reflex influence of his spirit and teaching upon those who were his pupils. Nor is this influence confined to New York ; other States feel it ; men, who were trained under him at Albany, have occupied high positions all over the coun- try ; and gifted women, who, under his teachings, were moved to consecrate themselves to the holy duty of training the young, have been at the head of seminaries of high order, extending his influence in widening circles over the entire land. Our brief narrative exhibits, we think, clearly what were the marked traits of Mr. Page's character ; indus- try, perseverance, decision, energy, great executive ability, ready tact, and conscientious adherence to what he regarded as duty. The secret of his success, said Gideon F. Thayer, was found in his thorough conscien- tiousness, his religious princij^le, his fidelity in duty, connected with his self-faith, his diligence, and his in- domitable will. He felt that he could, — he resolved, — he conquered ! But no language can describe the fascin- ation of his manner, the attraction of his presence, his 24 DAVID PEEKIl^^S PAGE skill in what he was accustomed to call the draicing-out process, or his tact in making all his knowledge avail- able. His familiar lectures to his pupils on subjects connected with the teacher^s life and duties, could they be published, would form an invaluable hand-book for teachers. He possessed, beyond most men, the happy talent of always saying the right thing at the right time. In personal appearance, Mr. Page was more than ordin- arily prepossessing, — of good height and fine form, erect and dignified in manner, scrupulously neat in person, and easy in address, he was a living model to his pupils of what a teacher should be. Aside from a few lectures, published at different times, to some of which we have already alluded, Mr. Page left but one published work, — '' The Theory and Practice of Teaching,'' a work which has had a larger circulation than any other work on education ever published. THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING CHAPTER I SPIRIT OF THE TEACHER PERHAPS the very first question that the honest individual will ask himself, as he proposes to assume the teacher's office, or to enter upon a prepara- tion for it, will be — " What manner of sjnrit am I of 9 " No question can be more important. I would by no means undervalue that degree of natural talent — of mental power, which all justly consider so desirable in the candidate for the teacher's office. But the true sjpirit of the teacher, — a spirit that seeks not alone pecuniary emolument, but desires to be in the highest degree useful to those who are to be taught ; a spirit that elevates above every thing else the nature and capa- bilities of the human soul, and that trembles under the responsibility of attempting to be its educator ; a spirit that looks upon gold as the contemptible dross of earth, when compared with that imperishable gem which is to be polished and brought out into heaven's light to shine forever ; a spirit that scorns all the rewards of earth, (25) ■ 26 THEORY AlTD PRACTICE OF TEACHING True spirit.— Motives often wrong. and seeks that highest of all rewards, an approving conscience and an approving God ; a spirit that earn- estly inquires what is right, and that dreads to do what is wrong ; a spirit that can recognize and reverence the handiwork of God in every child, and that burns with the desire to be instrumental in training it to the highest attainment of which it is capable, — such a spirit is the first thing to be sought by the teacher, and without it the highest talent cannot make him truly excellent in his profession. The candidate for the office of the teacher should look well to his motives. It is easy to enter upon the duties of the teacher without preparation ; it is easy to do it without that lofty purpose which an enlightened conscience would ever demand ; but it is not so easy to undo the mischief which a single mistake may pro- duce in the mind of the child, at that tender period when mistakes are most likely to be made. Too many teachers are found in our schools without the spirit for their work which is here insisted on. They not only have not given attention to any preparation for their work, but resort to it from motives of personal convenience, and in many instances from a conscious- ness of being unfit for everything else ! In other professions this is not so. The lawyer is not admitted to the bar till he has pursued a course of thorough SPIRIT OF THE TEACHER 27 Preparation neglected. preparation, and even then but warily employed. The physician goes through his course of reading and his course of lectures, and often almost through a course of starvation in the country village where he first puts up his sign, before he is called in to heal the maladies of tha body. It is long before he can inspire confidence enough in the people to be intrusted with their most difficult cases of ailing, and very likely the noon of life is passed before he can consider himself established. But it is not so with the teacher. He gains access to the sanctuary of mind without difficulty, .and the most tender interests for both worlds are intrusted to his guidance, even when he makes pretension to no higher motive than that of filling up a few months of time not otherwise appropriated, and to no qualifications but those attained by accident. A late writer in the Jour- nal of Education hardly overstates this matter :— ''Every stripling who has passed four years within the walls of a college ; every dissatisfied clerk who has not ability enough to manage the trifling concerns of a com- mon retail shop ; every young farmer who obtains in the winter a short vacation from the toils of summer, in short, every young person who is conscious of his imbecility in other business, esteems himself fully com- petent to train the ignorance and weakness of infancy into all the virtue and power and wisdom of maturer 28 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Teaching a secondary "Object.— Ignorance does not excuse. years, — to form a creature, the frailest and feeblest that heaven has made, into the intelligent and fearless sovereign of the whole animated creation, the interpre- ter and adorer and almost the representative of Di- vinity ! ^' Many there are who enter upon the high eniploy- ment of teaching a common school as a secondary object. Perhaps they are students themselves in some higher institution, and resort to this as a temporary expedient for paying their board, while their chief object is, to pursue their own studies and thus keep pace with their classes. Some make it a stepping-stone to something beyond, and, in their estimation, higher in the scale of respectability, — treating the employ- ment,, while in it, as irksome in the extreme, and never manifesting so much delight as wdien the hour arrives for the dismissal of their schools. Such have not the true spirit of the teacher ; and if their labors are not entirely unprofitable, it only proves that children are sometimes submitted to imminent danger but are still unaccountably preserved by the hand of Providence. The teacher should go to his duty full of his work. He should be impressed with its overwhelming import- ance. He should feel that his mistakes, though they may not speedily ruin him, may permanently injure his pupils. Nor is it enough that he shall say, '' I did it SPIRIT OF THE TEACHER 2^") Dangerous to mislead mind. ignorantly''. He has assumed to fill a place where ignorance itself is sin ; and where indifference to the well-being of others is equivalent to wilful homicide. He might as innocently assume to be the physician, and, without knowing its effects, prescribe arsenic for the colic. Ignorance is not in such cases a valid excuse, because the assumption of the place implies a pretension to the requisite skill. Let the teacher, then, well con- sider what manner of spirit he is of. Let him come to this work only when he has carefully pondered its nature and its responsibilities, and after he has devoted his best powers to a thorough preparation of himiSelf for its high duties. Above all, let him be sure that his motives on entering the school-room are such as will be acceptable in the sight of God, when viewed by the light beaming out from his throne. ' ' Oh ! let not then unskilful hands attempt To play the harp, whose tones, whose living- tones Are left forever in the strings. Better far That heaven's lightnings blast his very soul, And sink it back to Chaos' lowest depths. Than knowingly, by word or deed, he send, A blight upon the trusting mind of youth," CHAPTER II RESPOKSIBILITY OF THE TEACHEE SECTIOISr I. — A NEGLECTED PEAR-TREE SOME years ago, while residing in the northeastern part of Massachusetts, I was the owner of a small, garden. I had taken much pains to improve the con- dition and appearance of the place. A woodbine had been carefully trained upon the front of the little home- stead ; a fragrant honeysuckle, supported by a trellis, adorned the doorway ; a moss-rose, a flowering almond, and the lily of the valley, mingled their fragrance in the breath of morn, — and never, in my estimation at least, did the sun shine upon a lovelier, happier spot. The morning hour was spent in '^dressing and keep- ing '' the garden. Its vines were daily watched and carefully trained ; its borders were free from weeds, and the plants expanded their leaves and opened their buds as if smiling at the approach of the morning sun. There were fruit trees, too, which had been brought from far, and so carefully nurtured, that they were covered with blossoms, filling the air with their fra- grance and awakening the fondest hopes of an abundant harvest. (30) HESPOKSIBILITY OF THE TEACHER 81 Neglected pear-tree.— Pruning commenced. In one corner of this miniature paradise, there was a hop-trellis ; and, in the midst of a bed of tansy hard by, stood a small, knotty, crooked pear-tree. It had stood there I know not how long. It was very dimin- utive in size ; but like those cedars which one notices high up the mountain, just on the boundary between vegetation and eternal frost, it had every mark of the decrepitude of age. Why should this tree stand here so unsightly and unfruitful ? Why had it escaped notice so long ? Its bark had become hound and cracked ; its leaves were small and curled ; and those, small as they were, were ready to be devoured by a host of caterpillars, whose pampered bodies were already grown to the length of an inch. The tendrils of the hop-vine had crept about its thorny limbs and were weighing down its growth, while the tansy at its roots drank up the refreshing dew and shut out the genial ray. It was a neglected tree! ''Why may not this tree be pruned ?^^ No sooner said, than the small saw was taken from its place and the work was commenced. Commenced'^ It was hard to determine where to commence. Its knotty branches had grown thick and crooked, and there was scarcely space to get the saw between them. They all seemed to deserve amputation, but then the tree would have no top. This and that limb were lopped off as the case 32 THEOEY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHIis^G Disagreeable toil.— Grafting of a Bartlet Pear.— Anxiety. seemed to demand. The task was neither easy nor pleasant. Sometimes a violent stroke would bring down npon my oAvn head a shower of the filthy cater- pillars ; again the long-cherished garden-coat — thread- bare and faded as it was — got caught, and before it conld be disengaged, what an unsightly rent had been made ! With jjain I toiled on, for one of the unlucky thorns had pierced my thumb ; and I might have been said to be working on the S2:)ur of the occasion ! The hop-vine, however, w"as removed from its boughs, the tansy and weeds from its roots, the scales and moss from its bark. The thorns were carefully jDared from its limbs, and the caterpillars were all shaken from its leaves. The mould was loosened and enriched, and the sun shined that day upon a long neglected, but now a promising tree. The time for grafting was not yet passed. One re- putedly skilled in that art was called to put the new scion upon the old stock. The work was readily under- taken and speedily accomplished, and the assurance was given that the Bartlet Pear — that prince among the fruits of Kew England — would one day be gathered from my neglected tree. With what interest I watched the buds of the scion, morning after morning, as the month grew warmer, and vegetation all around was " bursting into birth !^' RESPOKSIBILITY OF THE TEACHER 33 Tlie pears ripen.— Cliagrin and mortification.— A moral garden. With what delight did I greet the first opening of those buds, and how did I rejoice as the young shoots put forth and grew into a fresh green top ! With tender solicitude I cherished this tree for two long summers ; and on the opening of the third, my heart was gladdened with the sight of its first fruit blossoms. With care were the weeds excluded, the caterpillars exterminated, the hop-vine clipped, the bark rubbed and washed, the earth manured and watered. The time of fruit arrived. The Bartlet pear was offered in our market, — but my pears were not yet ripe ! With anxious care they were watched till the frost bade the green leaves wither, and then they were carefully gathered and placed in the sunbeams within doors. They at length turned yellow, and looked fair to the sight and tempting to the taste ; and a few friends who had known their history, were invited to partake of them. They were brought for- ward, carefully arranged in the best dish the humble domicil afforded, and formally introduced as the first fruits of the "neglected tre&'\ What was my chagrin and mortification, after all my pains and solicitude, after all my hopes and fond anticipations, to find they were miserable, tasteless — choke pears ! This pear-tree has put me upon thinking. It has suggested that there is such a thing as a moral garden, in which they may be fair flowers indeed, but also some S4: THEOEY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHIHCJ Many neglected trees.— Infancy. 7veglected trees. The plants in this garden may suffer very much from neglect, — from neglect of the gardener. It is deplorable to see how many crooked, unseemly branches shoot forth from some of these young trees, which early might have been trained to grow straight and smooth by the hand of cultivation. Manyayouth^ running on in his own way, indulging in deception and profanity, yielding to temptation and overborne by evil influences, polluting by his example, and wounding the hearts of his best friends as they yearn over him for good, has reminded me of my neglected tree, its cater- pillars, its roughened bark, its hop-vine, its tansy bed, its cruel piercing thorns. And when I have seen such a youth brought under the influence of the educator, and have witnessed the progress he has made and the intellectual promise he has given, I have also thought of my neglected tree. When, too, I have followed him to the years of maturity, and have found, as I have too often found, that he brings not forth " the peaceable fruits of righteousness ", but that he disappoints all the fondly-cherished hopes of his friends — perhaps of his own teachers, because the best principles were not en- grafted upon him, I again think of my neglected tree, and of the unskilful, perhaps dishonest gardner, who acted as its responsible educator. From the above as a text, several inferences might KESPONSIBILITY OF THE TEACHEK 85 Extent of tlie teaclier's responsibility.— Bodily health. be drawn. 1. Education is necessary to develop the human soul. 2. Education should begin early. We have too many neglected trees. 3. It should be right edu- cation. And 4. The educator should be a safe and an honest man ; else the education may be all wrong, — may be worse even than the neglect. But especially we may infer that SECTION" II. — THE TEACHER IS RESPONSIBLE. It is the object of the following remarks feebly to illustrate the extent of the teacher's responsibility. It must all along be borne in mind that he is not alone responsible for the results of education. The parent has an overwhelming responsibility, which he can never part with or transfer to another while he holds the relation of parent. But the teacher is responsible in a very high degree. An important interest is committed to his charge when- ever a human being is placed under his guidance. By taking the position of the teacher, all the responsibility of the relation is voluntarily assumed ; and he is fear- fully responsible not only for what he does, but also for what he neglects to do. And it is a responsibility from which he cannot escape. Even though he may have thoughtlessly entered upon the relation of teacher, with- out a single glance at its obligations ; or though, when 36 ^HEOKY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHTKG Laws of physical health.— Nervous'excitement. reminded of them, he may laugh at the thought, and disclaim all idea of being thus seriously held to a fear- ful account, — yet still the responsibility is on him. Just as true as it is a great thing to guide the mind aright, — just as true as it is a deplorable, nay, fatal thing to lead it astray, so true is it that he who attempts the work, whether ignorant or skilful, whether thoughtless or serious, incurs all the responsibility of success or failure, — a responsibility he can never shake off as long as the human soul is immortal, and men are accountable for such consequences of their acts as are capable of being foreseen. I. The teacher is in a degree responsible for the bodily HEALTH of the child. It is well established that the foundation of many serious diseases is laid in the school- room. These diseases come sometimes from a neglect of exercise ; sometimes from too long confinement in one position, or upon one study ; sometimes from over- excitement and over-study ; sometimes from breath- ing bad air ; sometimes from being kept too warm or too cold. Now the teacher should be an intelligent physiologist ; and from a knowledge of what the human system can bear and what it cannot, he is bound to be ever watchful to guard against all those abuses from which our children so often suffer. Especially should he be tremblingly alive to avert that excitability RESPONSIBILITY OF THE TEACHEE 37 Natural order.— Reading, &c. of the nervous system, the over-action of which is so fatal to future happiness of the indivicluaL And should he, by appealing to the most exciting motives, encour- age the delicate child to press on to grasp those subjects which are too great for its comprehension, and allow it to neglect exercise in the open air in order to task its feverish brain in the crowded and badly ventilated school-room ; and then, in a few days, be called to look upon the languishing sufferer upon a bed of exhaustion and pain — perhaps a bed of premature death, could he say, ^'I am not responsible'^ ? Parents and teachers often err in this. They are so eager to develop a pre- cocious intellect, that they crush the casket in order to gratify a prurient desire to astonish the world with the brilliancy of the gem. Each is responsibe for his share of this sin ; and the teacher especially, because by his education he should know better. II. The teacher is mainly responsiUe for the intel- lectual GROWTH of the child. This may be referred chiefly to the following heads : — 1. The order of studij. There is a natural order in the education of the child. The teacher should know this. If he presents the subjects out of this order, he is responsible for the injury. In general the elements should be taught first. Those simple branches which the child first comprehends, should first be presented. 38 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Mental Aritlimetic— Recite wlttiout book. Reading, of course, must be one of tlie first ; though I think the day is not distant when an enlightened com- munity will not condemn the teacher, if, while teaching reading, he should call the child's attention by oral instructions to such objects about him as he can com- prehend, even though in doing this he should somewhat prolong the time of learning to read. It is indeed of little consequence that the child should read iijords simply ; and that teacher may be viewed as pursuing the order of nature, who so endeavors to develop the powers of observation and comparison, that words when learned shall be the vehicles of ideas. Some further suggestions on this point will be made in the chapter entitled '^ Waking up Mind". Next to Reading and its inseparable companions — Spelling and Defining , I am inclined to recommend the study of Mefital Aritlimetic. The idea of Number is one of the earliest in the mind of the child. He can be early taught to count, and quite early to perform these operations which we call adding, subtracting, multiply- ing, and dividing. This study at first needs no hook. The teacher should be thoroughly versed in " Colburn's Intellectual Arithmetic '\ or its equivalent, and he can find enough to interest the child. When the scholar has learned to read, and has attained the age of six or §even, he may be allowed a book 'u\ preparing his lesson, EESPONSIBILITY OF THE TEACHER 39 Geograpny and history. but never during the recitation. Those who have not tried this kind of mental discipline will be astonished at the facility which the child acquires for performing- operations that often puzzle the adult. Nor is it an unimportant acquisition. None can tell its value but- those who have experienced the advantage it gives them in future school exercises and in business, over those who have never had such training. Geography may come next to Mental Arithmetic. The child should have an idea of the relations of size, form, and space, as well as number, before commencing Geography. These, however, he acquires naturally at an early age ; and very thoroughly, if the teacher has taken a little pains to aid him on these points in the earliest stages of his progress. A map is a picture, and hence a child welcomes it. If it can be a map of some familiar object, as of his school-room, of the school dis- trict, of his father's orchard or farm, it becomes an object of great interest. A map of his town is very desirable ; also of his county and of his own State. Fur- ther detail will be deferred here, as it is only intended in this place to hint at the order oi taking up the subjects. History should go hand in hand with Geography. Perhaps no greater mistake is made than that of deferring History till one of the last things in the child's course. Writing may be early commenced with the J9ewa7 40 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Writing.— Written Aritlimetic— Composition.— Grammar. upon the slate, because it is a very useful exercise to the child in prosecuting many of his other studies. But writing with a pen may well be deferred till the child is ten years of age, when the muscles shall have acquired sufficient strength to grasp and guide it. Written Aritlimetic may succeed the mental ; in- deed, it may be j)ractised along with it. Composition — perhaps by another name, as Descrip- tion — should be early commenced and very frequently practised. The child can be early interested in this, and he probably in this way acquires a better knowledge of practical grammar than in any other. Grammar, in my opinion, as a study, should be one of the last of the common school branches to be taken up. It requires more maturity of mind to understand its relations and dependencies than any other ; and that which is taught of grammar without such an under- standing, is a mere smattering of technical terms, by which the pupil is injured rather than improved. It may be said that unless scholars commence this branch early, they never will have the opportunity to learn it. Then let it go unlearned ; for as far as I have seen the world, I am satisfied that this early and superficial teaching of a difficult subject is not only useless but positively injurious. How many there are who study grammar for years, and then are obliged to confess in respo:n^sibility of the teacher 41 How to study.— Not words, but thoughts. after life, because '^^ their speech bewrayeth^' them, that they never understood it ! How many, by the too early study of an intricate branch, make themselves tlimlc they understand it, and thus prevent the hope of any further advancement at the proper age ! Grammar, then, should 7iot he studied too early. Of the manner of teaching all these branches, I shall have more to say in due time. At present I have only noticed the order in which they should be taken up. This is a question of much consequence to the child, and the teacher is generally responsible for it. He should therefore carefully consider this matter, that he may be able to decide aright. 2. The manner of study. It is of quite as much im- portance ho2U we study, as what we study. Indeed I have thought that much of the difference among men could be traced to their different habits of study, formed in youth. A large portion of our scholars study for the sake of preparing to recite the lesson. They seem to have no idea of any object beyond recitation. The consequence is, they study mechanically. They endeavor to remember pliraseology, rather than prin- ciples ; they study the looh, not the subject. Let any one enter our schools and see the scholars engaged in preparing their lessons. Scarcely one will be seen, who is not repeating over and over again the words of th^ 42 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Teacher's duty.— Books but helps. text^ as if there was a saving charm in repetition. Ob- serve the same scholars at recitation^ and it is a struggle of the memory to recall the forms of words. The vacant countenance too often indicates that tlie}^ are words without meaning. This difficulty is very much in- creased if the teacher is confined to the text-book during recitation ; and particularly, if he relies mainly upon ih.Q printed questioiis so often found at the bottom of the page. The scholar should be encouraged to study the sub- ject ; and his book should be held merely as the in- strument. ^' Books are but helps, '^ is a good motto for every student. The teacher should often tell how the lesson should be learned. His precept in this matter will often be of use. Some scholars will learn a lesson in one-tenth of the time required by others. Human life is too short to have any of it employed to disadvantage. The teacher^ then, should inculcate such habits of study as are valuable ; and he should be particularly careful to break up, in the recitations, those habits which are so grossly mechanical. A child may almost be said to be educated, who has learned to study aright ; while one may have acquired in the me- chanical way a great amount of knowledge, and yet have no profitable mental discipline. For this difference in children, as well as in men, the RESPOjq^SIBILITY OF THE TEACHER 43 Study objects.— Teaching to observe. teacher is more responsible tlian any other person. Let him carefully consider this matter. 3. Collateral study. Books to be sure are to be studied, and studied chiefly, in most of our schools. But there is much for the teacher to do toward the growth of the mind which is not to be found in the school-books ; and it is the practical recognition of this fact which constitutes the great difference in teachers. Truth, in whatever department, is open to the faithful teacher. And there is such a thing, even in the pres- ent generation, as ^^ opening the eyes of the blind "^ to discover things new and old, in nature, in the arts, in history, in the relation of things. Without diminishing, in the least, the progress of the young in study, their powers of observation may be cultivated, their percep- tion quickened, their relish for the acquisition of know- ledge indefinitely increased, by the instrumentality of the teacher. This must of course be done adroitly. There is such a thing as excessively cramming the mind of a child, till he loathes everything in the way of acquisition. There is such a thing, too, as exciting an all-pervading interest in a group of children, so that the scholar shall welcome the return of school hours, and, by his cheerful step and animated eye as he seeks the school-house disclaim as faJse when applied to 44 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Mind not to te crammed.— Moral training neglected.— Precept. him the language of the poet who described the school-bo}^ of his darker day, — " witli Ills satchel, And sliming morning face, creeping, like snail, Umvillingbj to school. " The teacher, who is responsible for such a result, should take care to store his own mind with the material, and exercise the ingenuity to do that which is of so much consequence to the scholar. The chapter on "Waking up Mind'' will give some further hints to the young teacher. III. The teacher is in a degree res2J07isil)le for the MORAL TRAINING of the child. I say in a degree, because it is confessed that in this matter very much likewise depends upon parental influence. This education of the heart is confessedly too much neglected in all our schools. It has often been re- marked that ''knowledge is power," and as truly that "knowledge without principle to regulate it may make a man a powerful villain." It is all-important that our youth should early receive such moral training as shall make it safe to give them knowledge. Vary much of this work must devolve upon the, teacher; or rather, when he undertakes to teach he assumes the responsi- bility of doing or of neglecting this work. The precept of the teacher may do much toward RESPOKSIBILITY OF THE TEACHER 45 Example.— Conscience can be cultivated.— How teaching the child his duty to God, to himself, and to his fellow-beings. But it is not miiinly by precept that this is to be done. Sermons and homilies are but little heeded in the school-room ; and unless the teacher has some other mode of reaching the feelings and the conscience, he may despair of being successful in moral training. The teacher should be well versed in human nature. He should know the power of conscience and the means of reaching it. He should himself have deep principle. His example in every thing before his school should be pure, flowing out from the purity of his soul. He should ever manifest the tenderest regard to the law of right and of love. He should never violate his OAvn sense of justice, nor outrage that of his pupils. Such a man teaches by his example. He is a 'living epistle, known and read of all '\ He teaches, as he goes in and out before the school, as words can never teach. The moral feelings of children are capable of sys- tematic and successful cultivation. Our muscles ac- quire strength by use ; it is so with our intellectual and moral faculties. We educate the power of calculation by continued practice, so that the proficient adds the long column of figures almost with the rapidity of sight, and with infallible accuracy. So with the moral feelings, *'The more frequently we use our con- is THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHING Evil example to be dreaded. science/' says Dr. Wayland, ^^in judging between ac- tions, as right and wrong, the more easily shall we learn to judge correctly concerning them. He who, before every action, will deliberately ask himself, ^Is this right or wrong ?' will seldom mistake wdiat is his duty. And children may do this as well as grown persons. '^ Let the teacher ajopeal as often as may be to the pupil's conscience. In a thousand ways can this be done, and it is a duty the faithful teacher owes to his scholars. By such methods of cultivating the conscience as the judicious teacher may devise, and by his own pure ex- ample, what may he not accomplish ? If he loves the truth, and ever speaks the truth ; if he is ever frank and sincere ; if, in a word, he shows that he has a ten- der conscience in all things, and that he always refers to it for its approval in all his acts, — what an influence does he exert upon the impressible minds under his guidance ! How those children will observe his con- sistent course ; and, though they may not speak of it, how great will be its silent power upon the formation of their characters ! And in future years, when they ripen into maturity, how will they remember and bless the example they shall have found so safe and salutary. Eesponsibility in this matter cannot be avoided. The teacher by his example does teach, for good or for EESPONSIBILITY OF THE TEACHER 11 Consequences. evil, whether lie will or not. Indifference will not ex- cuse him ; for when most indifferent he is not less accountable. And if his example be pernicious, as too often even yet the example of the teacher is ; if he in- dulges in outbreaks of passion, or wanders in the mazes of deceitfulness ; if the blasphemous oath pollutes his tongue, or the obscene jest poisons his breath ; if he trifles with the feelings or the rights of others, and habitually violates his own conscience, — v.'hat a blight- ing influence is his for all coming time ! With all the attachment which young pupils will cherish even toward a bad teacher, and with all the confidence they will repose in him, who can describe the mischief which he can accomplish in one short term ? The school is no place for a man without j)rin- cifle ; I repeat, the school is no place for a mai^ WITHOUT pri]S"CIPLE. Let such a man seek a livelihood anywhere else ; or, failing to gain it by other means, let starvation seize the body and send the soul back to its Maker as it is, rather than he should incur the fear- ful guilt of poisoning youthful minds and dragging them down to his own pitiable level. If there can be one sin greater than another, on which heaven frowns with more awful disjoleasure, it is that of leading the young into principles of error and the debasing prac- tices of vice, 48 THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHING Trample not on the mind.— Eeligion our glory,— oui- hope. " Oh, wo to those who trample on the mind, That deathless thing ! They know not what they do, Nor what they deal with, Man, perchance, may bind The flower his step hath bruised ; or light anew The torch he quenches ; or to music wind Again the lyre-string from his touch that flew ; — But for the soul, oh, tremble and beware To lay rude hands upon God's mysteries there ! " Let then the teacher study well his motives when he enters this profession, and so let him meet his respon- sibility in this matter as to secure the approval of his own conscience and his God. IV. The teacher is to some extent responsible for the RELIGIOUS TRAINING of the young. We live in a Christian land. It is our glory, if not our boast, that we have descended from an ancestry that feared God and reverenced his word. Very justly we attribute our superiority as a people over those who dwell in the darker portions of the world, to our purer faith derived from that precious fountain of truth — the Bible. Very justly, too, does the true patriot and phi- lanthropist rely upon our faith and practice as a Chris- tian people for the permanence of our free institutions and our unequaled social privileges. If we are so much indebted, then, to the Christian religion for what we are, and so much dependent upon its life-giving truths for what we may hope to be, — how RESPONSIBILITY OF THE TEACHER 49 Avoid sectarianism.— Common ground.— Exemplified. important is it that all onr youth should be nurtured under its influences ! When I say religious training, I do not mean sec- tarianism. In our public schools, supported at the public expense, and in which the children of all de- nominations meet for instruction, I do not think that any man has a right to crowd his own peculiar notions of theology upon all, whether they are acceptable or not. Yet there is common ground which he can oc- cupy and to which no reasonable man can object. He can teach a reverence for the Supreme Being, a rever- ence for his Holy AVord, for the influences of his Spirit, for the character and teachings of the Savior, and for the momentous concerns of eternity. He can teach the evil of sin in the sight of God, and the awful conse- quences of it upon the individual. He can teach the duty of repentance and the privilege of forgiveness. He can teach our duty to worship God, to obey his laws, to seek the guidance of his Spirit, and the Salva- tion by his Son. He can illustrate the blessedness of the divine life, the beauty of holiness, and the joyful hope of heaven ; — and to all this no reasonable man will be found to object, so long as it is done in a truly Christian spirit. If not in express words, most certainly his life and example should teach this. Man is a religious being. 50 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Dang-er of skepticism. The religious principle should be early cultivated. It should be safely and carefully cultivated ; and, as this cultivation is too often entirely neglected by parents, unless it is attempted by the teacher in many cases it will never be effected at all. Of course all those points which separate the com- munity into sects must be left to the family, the Sab- bath-school, and the pulpit. The teacher is responsible for his honesty in this matter. While he has no right to lord it over the private conscience of any one, he is inexcusable, if, believing the great truths of the Bible, he puts them away as if they concerned him not. They should command his faith, and govern his conduct ; and their claims upon the young should not be dis- owned. At any rate the teacher should be careful that his teaching and his example do not prejudice the youthful mind against these truths. It is a hazardous thing for a man to be skeptical by himself, even when he locks his opinions up in the secrecy of his own bosom ; how great then is the responsibility of teaching the young to look lightly upon the only book that holds out to us the faith of immortality, and opens to us the hope of heaven ! Let the teacher well consider this matter, and take heed that his teaching shall never lead one child of earth away from his heavenly Father, or from EESPOXSIBILITY 01- THE TEACJIER Who is sufficient ?— Inexcusable indifference. the rest of the righteous in the home of the blest. Ill view of what has been said, the young candidate for the teacher^s office, almost in despair of success, may exclaim, '"'Who is sufficient for these things P'"* '' Who can meet and sustain such responsibility ?" My answer is, the true inquirer after duty will not go astray. He is insufficient for these things, who is self- confident, who has not yet learned his own weakness, who has never found out his own faults, and who rushes to this great work as the unheeding '^' horse rusheth into the battle '\ not knowing whither he goeth. Alas, how many there are who enter this profession without the exercise of a, single thought of the respon- sibleness of the position, or of any of the great ques- tions which must in their schools for the first time be presented for their decision ! How many there are who never reflect upon the influence of their example before the young, and are scarcely conscious that their example is of any consequence ! Sucli, in the highest sense, will fail of success. How can they be expected to go right, where there is only one right way, but a thousand wrong ? Let such persons pause and con- sider before they assume responsibilities which they can neither discharge nor evade. Let such ask with deep solicitude, ^^ Who is sufficient for these things ?" But to the young person really desirous of improve- 59, THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Tlie honest inquirer may hope.— Visit to the prison.— Neatness and order. ment ; to him who has taken the first and important step toward knowledge by making the discovery that every thing is not already known ; to him who sees beforehand that there are real difficulties in this pro- fession, and who is not too prond or self-conceited to feel the need of special preparation to meet them ; to him who has some idea of the power of example in the edncator, and who desires most of all things that his character shall be so pure as to render his example safe ; to him who has discovered that there are some deep mysteries in hnman nature, and that they are only to be fathomed by careful study ; to him who really feels that a great thing is to be done, and who has the sin- cere desire to prepare himself to do it aright ; to him, in short, who has the irtie spirit of tlie teacher, — I may say, there is nothing to fear. An honest mind, with the requisite industry, is stifficient for these things. SECTION III. — THE ALBURN STATE PRISON. During my visit at Auburn in the autumn of 1845, I was invited by a friend to visit the prison, in which at that time were confined between six and seven hundred convicts. I was first taken through the various work- shops, where the utmost neatness and order prevailed. As I passed along my eye rested upon one after another of the convicts, I confess^ with a feeling of surprise. TlESPONSrUTLTTT OF THE TEACHER 53 An inquiry.— Library.— Wyatt the murderer. There were maii}^ good-looking men. If, instead of tlieir parti-colored dress, they could have been clothed in the citizen's garb, I should have thought them as good in appearance as laboring men in general. And when, to their good appearance, was added their attention to their work, their ingenuity, and the neatness of their Avork-rooms, my own mind began to press the inquiry, Whi/ are these men here? It was the afternoon "of Sat- urday. Many of them had completed their allotted work for the week, and with happy faces were perform- ing the customary ablutions ^preparatory to the Sabbath. Passing on, we came to the library, a collection of suit- able books for the convicts, which are given out as a reward for diligence to those who have seasonably and faithfully performed their labor. Here were many who had come to take their books. Their faces beamed with delight as they each bore away the desired volume, just as I had seen the faces of tlic happy and the free do before. Whi/ are these men here ? was again pressed upon me ; — Why are these men here ? At this time the famous Wyatt, since executed upon the gallows for his crime, was in solitary confinement, awaiting his trial for the murder of Gordon, a fellow- prisoner. I was permitted to enter his room. Chained to the floor, he was reclining upon his mattress in the middle of his apartment. As I apjn-oached him, his 54 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING SalDbath morn.— General view.— Worship.— Singing. large black eye met mine. He was a handsome man. His head was well developed, his long black hair hung upon his neck, and his eye was one of the most intelli- gent I ever beheld. Had I seen him in the senate among great men, — had I seen him in a school of philosophers, or a brotherhood of poets, I should prob- ably have selected him as the most remarkable man among them all, without suspecting his distinction to be a distinction of villany. Why is that man here ? thought I, as I turned away to leave him to his dread- ful solitude. The morrow was the Sabbath. I could not repress my desire to see the convicts brought together for wor- ship. At the hour of nine I entered their chapel and found them all seated in silence. I was able to see most of the faces of this interesting congregation. It was by no means the worst looking congregation I had ever seen. There were evidently bad men there ; but what congregation of free men does not present some such ? They awaited in silence the commencement of the service. When the morning hymn was read, they joined in the song, the chorister being a colored man of their own number. They sang as other congrega- tions sing, and my voice joined with theirs. The Scripture was read. They gave a respectful attention. RESPONSIBILITY OF THE TEACHER 55 Prayer.— Deep feeling. The prayer was begun. Some bowed in apparent rever- ence at the commencement. Others sat erect, and two or three of these appeared to be the hardened sons of crime. The chaplain's voice was of a deep, perhaps I should say, a fatherly tone, and he seemed to have the father's spirit. He prayed for these ''wayward ones^'', who were deprived of their liberty for their offences, but whom God would welcome to his throne of mercy. He prayed for their homes, and for their friends who this day would send their thoughts hither in remem- brance of those in bonds. He alluded to the scenes of their childhood, the solicitude of their early friends, and the affection of their parents. When the words home, friend, cliildliood, were heard, several of those sturdy sons of crime and wretchedness instinctively bowed their heads and concealed their faces in their hands ; and as o. father s blessing and a mothers love were alluded to, more than one of these outcasts from society were observed to dash the scalding tear from the eye. These n\Qnfeel like other men, — why are they here 9 was again the thought which forced itself upon my mind ; and while the chaplain proceeded to his sermon, in the midst of the silence that pervaded the room my mind ran back to their educators. Once these men were children like others. They had feelings like other chil- dren, affection, reverence, teachableness, conscience, — 56 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Tlie question again.— Speculation.— Tlieir teacliers. why are they here ? Some, very likely, on account of their extraordinary perversity ; but most because they had a wrong education. More than half, undoubtedly, have violated the laws of their country, not from extra- ordinary viciousness but from the weakness of their moral principle. Tempted just like other and better men, they fell, because in early childhood no one had cultivated and strengthened the conscience God had given them. I am not disposed to excuse the vices of men, nor to screen them from merited punishment ; neither do I worship a ''painted morality" based solely upon education, thus leaving nothing for the religion of the Bible to accomplish by purifying the heart, that fountain of wickedness ; yet how many of these men might have been saved to society ; how many of them have powers which under different training might have adorned and blessed their race ; how many of them may date their fall to the evil influence and poisonous ex- ample of some guide of their childhood, some recreant teacher of their early days, — God only knows ! But what a responsibility still rests upon the head of any such teacher, if he did not know or did not try to know the avenue to their hearts ; if he did not feel or try to feel the worth of moral principle to these very fallen ones ! And what would be his feelings if he could look back through the distant days of the j^ast and count up RESPOXSIBILITY OF THE TEACHER 57 View to tlie final Judgment. exactly the measure of his own faithfulness and of his own neglect ? This the all-seeing eye alone can do, — this He who looketh upon the heart ever does ! Teachers, go forth, then, conscious of your responsi- bility to your pupils, conscious of your accountability to God, go forth and teach this people ; and endeavor so to teach, that when you meet your pupils, not in the walks of life merely, not perhaps in the Auburn Prison, not indeed upon the shores of time, but at the final Judgment, where you must meet them all, you may be able to give a good account of the influence which you have exerted over mind. As it may then be forever too late to correct your errors and efface any injury done, study now to act the part of wisdom and the part of love. Study the human heart by studying the workings of your own ; seek carefully the avenues to the affections ; study those higher motives which elevate and ennoble the soul ; cultivate that purity which shall allure the wayward, by bright example, from the j^aths of error ; iml)ue your own souls with the love of teach- ing and the greatness of your work ; rely not alone upon yourselves, as if by your own wisdom and might you could do this great thing ; but seek that direction which our heavenly Father never withholds from the honest inquirer after his guidance, — and though the 58 THEORY Al^D PRACTICE OF TEACHI:N"G Study to know, and to do. teacher's work is, and ever must be, attended with overwhelming responsibility, you will be sufficient FOR THESE THIJSTGS. CHAPTER III perso:n^al habits of the teacher THE importance of correct habits to any individual cannot be overrated. The influence of the teacher is so great upon the children under his care, either for good or evil, that it is of the utmost importance to them as well as to himself that his habits should be unexceptionable. It is the teacher^s sphere to irnp'*'Ove the community in which he moves, not only in learn- ing, but in morals and manners ; in every thing that is ^•^ lovely and of good report". This he may do partly by precept, — but very much by examj^le. He teaches, wherever he is. His manners, his appearance, his character, are all the subject of observation, and to a great extent of imitation, by the young in his district. He is observed not only in the school, but in the family, in the social gathering, and in the religious meeting. How desirable then that he should be a model in all things ! Man has been said to be a '^^ bundle of habits " ; and it has been as pithily remarked — *' Happy is the man whose habits are his friends.'^ It were well if all per- sons, before they become teachers, would attend care- (59) 60 THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHIITG Cleanliness. — Ablutio n . fully to tlie formation of their personal habits. This, unhappily is not always done, — and therefore I shall make no apology for introducing in this place some very plain remarks on what I deem the essentials among the habits of the teacher. 1. Neatness. — This imj^lies cleanliness of the per- son. If some who assume to teach were not proverbial for their slovenliness, I would not dwell on this point. On this point, however, I must be allowed great plain- ness of speech, even at the expense of incurring the charge of excessive nicety ; for it is by attending to a few little tilings that one becomes a strictly neat per- son. The morning ablution, then, should never be omitted, and the comb for tlie hair and brush for the clothes should always be called into requisition before the teacher presents himself to the family, or to his school. Every teacher would very much promote his own health by washing the whole surface of the body every morning in cold water. This is now done by very many of the most enlightened teachers, as well as others. When jDhysiology is better understood this practice will be far more general. To uo class of per- sons is it more essential than to the teacher ; for on account of his confinement, often in an unventilated room, with half a hundred children during the da}^, verv much more is demanded of the exhalents in him PERSOJ^AL HABITS OP THE TEACHER 61 Tlie teetli.— Tlie nails.— A vulgar habit.— Neat dress. thiiu ill others. His only safety is in a healtliy action of tlie skin. The teeth should be attended to. A brush and clean water have saved many a set of teeth. It is bad enough to witness the deplorable neglect of these important organs so prevalent in the community; but it is ex- tremely mortifying to see a filthy set of teeth in the mouth of the teacher of our youth. The nails, too, 1 am sorry to say, are often neglected by some of our teachers, till their ebony tips are any thing but orna- mental. This matter is made worse, when, in the ])resence of the family or of the school, the penknife is brought into requisition to remove that which should have received attention at the time of washing in the morning. The teacher should remember that it is a vulgar habit to pare or clean the nails while in the presence of others, and especially during conversation with them. The teacher should be neat in his dress. 1 do not urge that his dress should be expensive. His income ordinarily will not admit of this. He may wear a very plain dress ; nor should it be any way singular in its fashion. All I ask is that his clothing should be in good taste, and always clean. A slovenly dress, covered with dust, or spotted with grease, is never so much out of its proper j^lace, as when it clothes the teacher. 62 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Tobacco.— A puzzle.— Improved taste.— Order, system. While upon this subject I may be indulged in a word or two upon the use of tobacco by the teacher. It is quite a puzzle to me to tell why any man but a Turk, who may lawfully dream away half his existence over the fumes of this filthy narcotic, should ever use it. Even if there were nothing wrong in the use of un- natural stimulants themselves, the filthiness of tobacco is enough to condemn it among teachers, especially in the form of chewing. It is certainly worth while to ask whether there is not some moral delinquency in teaching this practice to the young, while it is admitted by nearly all who have fallen into the habit, to be an evil, and one from which they would desire to be de- livered. At any rate, I hope the time is coming, when the good taste of teachers, and a regard for personal neatness and the comfort of others, shall present motives sufficiently strong to induce them to break away from a practice at once so unreasonable and so disgusting. 2. Order. — In this place I refer to that system and regularity so desirable in every teacher. He should practise it in his room at his boarding-house. Every thing should have its place. His books, his clothing, should all be arranged with regard to this principle. The same habit should go with him to the school-room. His desk there should be a pattern of orderly arrange- ment. Practising this himself, he may with propriety PEliSOKAL HABITS Ui- TliK TEACHEIi 03 Courtesy of language.— Profanity.— Purity.— Accuracy. insist upon it in liis pupils. It is of great moment to the teacher, that, when he demands order and arrange- ment among his pupils they cannot appeal to any breach of it in his own practice. 3. Courtesy. — The teacher should ever be courteous, both in his language and in his manners. Courtesy of langiiage may imply a freedom from all coarseness. There is a kind of communication used among boatmen and hangers-on at bar-rooms which should find no place in the teacher's vocabulary. All vulgar jesting, all double-entendres, all low allusions, should be forever excluded from his mouth. And profanity ! — can it be necessary that I should speak of this as among the habits of the teacher ? Yes, it is even so. Such is the want of moral sense in the community, that men are still employed in some districts, whose ordinary conver- sation is poisoned with the breath of blasphemy ; ay, and even the walls of the school-room resound to un- disguised oaths ! I cannot find words to express my astonishment at the indifference of parents, or at the recklessness of teachers, wherever I know such cases to exist. Speaking of the language of the teacher, I might urge also that it should be both pure and accurate. Pure as distinguished from all those cant phrases and provincialisms which amuse the vulgar in certain local- 04 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHIKG Courtesy oi manner.— Politeness, in tlie teacher. ities ; and accurate as to the terms nsecl to express his meaning. As the teaclier ieaclies in this, as in cvery- ■ thing, by example as well as by precept, he should be very careful to acquire an unexce^itionable use of our language, and never deviate from it in the hearing of hiS pupils or elsewhere. There is a courtesy of manner also, which should characterize the teacher. This is not that ridiculous obsequiousness which some persons assume when they would gain the good opinion of others. It is true politeness. By politeness I do not mean any particular form of words, nor any prescribed or ^prescribable mode of action. It does not consist in hoiving according to any improved plan, nor in a compliance simply with the formulas of etiquette in the fashionable world. True politeness is founded in benevolence. Its law is embodied in the golden rule of the Saviour : — " Whatso- ever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so unto them." It is the exercise of real kindness. It entertains a just regard for the feelings of others, and seeks to do for them what would make them really happy. The teacher should possess this quality. Whenever he meets a child, it should be with the looks and words of kindness. Whenever he receives any token of regard from a pupil, he should acknowledge it in the true PERSOJ^"AL HABITS OF THE TEACHER 65 Anecdote.— The Secret— Manners neglected. spirit of politeness. Whenever he meets a pnpil in the street, or in a public place, he should cordially recog- nize him. In this way and a thousand others, which, if he have the right spirit, will cost him nothing, he will cultivate true courtesy in his pupils. He can do it in this way more effectually than he can by formally lecturing upon the subject. True politeness will always win its true reciprocation. Two teachers were once walking together in the streets of a large town in Kew England. Several lads whom they met on the side- walk raised their caps as they exchanged the common salutations with one of the teachers. ^^What boys are these that pay you such attention as they pass?'' in- quired the other. '' They are my scholars," answered his friend. '* Your scholars ! Why how do you teach them to be so very polite ? Mine are pretty sure never to look at me ; and generally they take care to be on the other side of the street." ^^I am unable to tell, " said his friend; ^^I never say any thing about it. I usually bow to them, and they are as ready to bow to me." The whole secret consisted in this teacher's meeting his pupils in the spirit of kindness. I would not, however, discourage a teacher from ac- tually inculcating good manners by precept. It should indeed be done. The manners of pupils are too much neglected in most of our schools, and, I am sorry to say, 66 THEORY AKB PHACTICE OF TEACHlN"^ Punctuality a cardinal virtue.— Dismiss punctually. in most of onr families. Our youth are growing tip with all the indei^endence of sturdy 3'oung republicansy — and^ in their pride of freedom from governmental re^ straint^ they sometimes show a want of respect for their seniors and superiors which is quite mortifying to all lovers of propriety. It is the teacher's province to counteract this ; and in order to do it well, he should possess the virtue of true courtesy, both in theory and practice. 4. Punctuality. — This, as a hahit, is essential to the teacher. He should be punctual in every thing. He should always be present at or before the time for opening the school. A teacher who goes late to school once a week, or even once a month, cannot very well enforce the punctual attendance of his pupils. I once knew a man who for seven long years was never late at school a single minute, and seldom did he fail to reach his place more than five minutes before the time. I never knew but one such. I have known scores who were frequently tardy, and sometimes by the space of a whole liour I A teacher should be as punctual in dismissing as in opening his school. I know that some make a virtue of keeping their schools beyond the regular hours. I have always considered this a very questionable virtue. It a teacher wishes to stay beyond his time; it shoul4 b« PERSON^AL HABITS OF THE TEACHER 67 Regular study.— Time for it. eiciiei* with delinquents, who have some lessons to make up, or with those who voluntarily remain. But, after all, if he has been strictly punctual to the hours as- signed for his various duties in school, there will scarcely be the necessity for him or any of his pupils to remain beyond the time for dismission ; and, as a general rule, a regard both for his own health and theirs should for- bid this. It is better to work diligently v/hile one does work, and not to protract the time of labor so as to destroy one^s energy for to-morrow. This habit of punctuality should run through every thing. He should be punctual at all engagements ; he should be studiously so in all the detail of school exer- cises ; he should be so at his meals, at his private studies, at his hour of retiring at night and of rising in the morning, and also at his exercise and recreation. This is necessary to a truly exemplary character, and it is equally as necessary to good health. 5. Habits of Study. — Unless the teacher takes care to furnish his own mind, he will soon find his present stock of knowledge, however liberal that may be, fading from his memory and becoming unavailablco To pre- vent this, and to keep along with every impro?. KIGHT MODES OF TExVCHING 121 Tiie secret revealed.— A new question.— Anotiier. and you may be a little disappointed when I tell you. The use I have been thinking of for the ear of corn is this : — // is to jjicmf. It is for seed, to jiropagate that species of 23lant called corn." Here the children may look disappointed, as much as to say, '' \Ve knew that before/^ The teacher continues : "'And this is a very import- ant use for the corn ; for if for one year none should be planted, and all the ears that grew the year before should be consumed, we should have no more corn. This, then, was the great primary design of the corn ; the other uses you have named were merely secondary. But 1 mean to make something more of my ear of corn. My next question is : — Do other plants have seeds ?"* Here is a new field of inquiry. Many hands are instantly raised ; but as the five minutes by this time have passed, leave them to answer at the next time. '^ Rave other jilf^^^'i^ts seeds f the children begin to inquire in their own minds, and each begins to think over a list of such plants as he is familiar with. When they are dismissed, they look on the way home at the plants by the roadside, and when they reach home, they run to the garden. At the table they inquire of their parents, or their brothers and sisters. At the next exercise, they will have more than they * riant is liore used in the popular sense. 122 THEORY AlTD PRACTICE OF TEACHING Impart instruction.— The recipient has gained capacity. can tell in five minutes as the results of their own ob- servation and research. When enough has been said by the children as to the plants which have seeds, the next question may be : — Do all plants have seeds ? This question will lead to much inquiry at home wherever botany is not well understood. There are many who are not aw^are that all plants have seeds. Very likely the ferns (common brakes) wall be noticed by the children themselves. They may also name several other i:)lants which do not exhibit their apparatus for seed-bearing very conspicuously. This will prepare the way for the teacher to impart a little information. Nor is there any harm in his doing so, whenever he is satisfied that the mind has been suitably exercised. The mind is no longer a '*^ passive recipient^' ; and he may be sure that by inquiry it has increased its capacity to contam, and any fact which now answers inquiry, will be most carefully stored up. The next question :nay be : — Do trees have seeds ? As the children next go out, their eyes are directed to the trees above them. The fruit-trees, the walnut, the oak, and perhaps the pine, will be selected as those which have seeds. They will, however, mention quite a number which do not, or which, they think, do not have seeds. Among these may be the elm, the birch, and the Lombardy poplar. After hearing their opin- RIGHT 3I0DES OF TEACHIIS'G 123 Tiie elm.— A promise. ions, and the results of their observations, take one of their exceptions as the subject of the next question : — Docs the Elm have seeds?* This will narrow their inquiries down to a specific case, and every elm in the district will be inquired of as to its testimony on this point. If the children can any of them collect and give the truth in the matter, so much the better ; but if they, after inquiring of their parents and their grandparents, as I have known a whole school to do, come back insist- ing that the elm has no seeds ; after hearing their reasons for their belief, and perhaps the opinions of their parents, you may promise to tell them something about it at the next exercise. This will again awaken expectation, not only among the children, but among the parents. All will wish to know what you have to bring out. Great care should be taken not to throw any dispar- agement upon the opinions of parents. Perhaps, after giving the signal for attention, you may proceed as follows : — ''Has the elm-tree any seeds? Perhaps, children, you may recollect after the co'ld winter has passed away, that, along in the latter part of March, or the first * It is a very common opinion in tlie couutry tkat tlie elm lias no seeds. I once knew a man wlio grew gray under tlie shade of a large elm, and vrtio Insisted that it never hore any seeds. 124 TlIKOilY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING A caution.— Example of teaching. of April, we sometimes have a warm, sunny da}^ The birds, perhaps, appear and begin to sing a littk^, and as you look up to the elm, you notice that its buds seem to SAvell, and you think it is going to put out its leaves. Everybody says we are going to have an early spring. But after this the cold frosty nights and windy days come on again, and then you think the leaves cannot come out so early. Now, if you observe carefully, the leaves do not come out till about the 20th of May, or perhaps the first of June. Did you ever see anything like what I have described ? " ^'^Yes, sir, we remember that.'" *^ Well, the next time you see the buds begin to open, just break off a twig of a good large tree, and you will find they are not the leaf-huds. But if you will watch them carefully for two or three weeks, you will find that each bud will put out some beautiful little flowers, brightly colored, and slightly fragrant. If you will still continue to watch them, you will find, as the flowers fall off, that seed vessels are formed, shaped very much like, tl e j^arsnip seed. These will grow larger and larger every day, and by-and-by they will turn brown and look as if they were ripe. Just al)out this time the leaves will come out ; and soon after these seeds, during some windy day or night, will all fall off. The ground will be covered with thousands of them. Per- haps you have seen this.'' RIGHT MODES OF TEACHING V^D Elm-dust.— A new question.— Kesults.—Anotlier.— Results. " Yes, sir/'" says John, ^^Grandpa calls that ehn-dust.'' ^^ Perhaps next year you can watch this and ask vonr j^a^rents to examine it with yon. But the five minutes are ended." Now, information thus communicated will never he forgotten. The mind, having been put upon the stretch, is no longer 2i 2)assive recipient. The next question : — How are seeds disseminated ? — (of course explaining the term 'Ulisseminated".) This will bring in a fund of information from the pupils. They will mention that the thistle seed flies, and so does the seed of the milkweed ; that the burs of the burdock, and some other seeds are provided with hooks, by which they attach themselves to the hair of animals or the clothing of men, and ride away to their resting-place, which may be a hundred miles off. Some fall into the water and sail away to another shore. Some, like the seed of the Touch-me-not, are thrown at a distance by the bursting of the elastic pericarp ; others, as nuts and acorns, are carried by squirrels and buried beneath the leaves. These facts would mostly be noticed by children, when once put upon observation. Kext question : — Are jjlanis propagated in any other ID ay than hy seeds 9 This question would call their attention to the various means of natural and artificial propagation — by layers, 126 THEORY AKJ) PRACTICE OF TEACHlNdf Still another.— Eemai-ks. by offsets, by suckers, by grafting, by inoculation oi budding, etc., etc. Again : — Have any ijlants more ways tlian one oj natural lyropagation f Some have one way only, — by seeds, as the annual plants ; some have two, — by seeds, and by roots, as the potato ; some have three,— as the tiger lily, by side-balbs from the roots, by stalk-hulbs, and by the seeds. This can be extended indefinitely. SECTION V — REMARKS Let it be remembered that the above has been given %imply as a sjjecime^i of what could easily be done by ,in ingenious teacher, with as common a thing as an ear of corn for the text. Any other thing would answer as well. A chijD, a tooth or a bone of an animal, a piece of iron, a feather, or any other object, could be made the text for adroitly bringing in the uses of wood, the food and haUts of animals, the use a7id comparative value of metals, the covering of lirds, their migration, the covering of animals, etc., etc. Let the teacher but think what department he will dwell upon, and then he can easily select his text ; and if he has any tact, he can keep the children constantly upon inquiry and observation. The advantages of the above course over simply lecturing to them on certain subjects^ that is, over the lUGHT i^iODES OF TEACHING 12*^ Effects upon thp children.— Advantages of observation. pouring-in ^^^'ocess, are many and great. Some of the most obvious I will briefly state. 1. II immediately 2^^^^^ i^^^ minds of the cliildren into a state of vigorous activity. They feel that they are no \oi\gQV passive recipients. They are incited to discover and ascertain for themselves. They are, therefore, profitably employed both in and out of school, and as a consequence are more easily governed. A habit of observation is cultivated in them ; and what an advan- tage is this for- a child ! It is almost unnecessary to remark that many people go through the world without seeing half the objects which are brought within their reach. It would be the same to them if their eyes were half the time closed. If they travel through a country presenting the most beautiful scenery or the most interesting geological features, they see nothing. They grow up among all the wonders of God's works, amid all the displays of his wisdom, of his design, to no purpose. They study none of the plans of nature ; and by all the millions of arrangements which God has made, to delight the eye, to gratify the taste, to excite the emotions of pleasure instead of pain, they are neither the happier nor the wiser. What a blessing, then, it is to a child, to put his mind upon inquiry ; to open his eyes to observe what his Creator intended his intelligent creatures should behold, of his goodness, his 138 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHINO Parents tieneflted.— Take an interest in tlie scliool. wisdom, his power. And how far superior is he who teaclies a child to see for himself and to think for him- self, to him who sees and thinks /or the child, and thus practically invites the pupil to close his own eyes and grope in darkness through the instructive journey of life. 2. It is of great service to tlie parents in the district to have this wahi7ig-up jyrocess in operation. Our chil- dren are sometimes our best teachers. Parents are apt to grow rusty in their acquirements, and it is no doubt one of the designs of providence that the inquisitiveness of childhood should preserve them from sinking into mental inactivity. Who can hear the inquiries of liis own child after knowledge, without a desire to supply his wants ? Kow it is right for the teacher to use this instrumentality to tvake up mind in his district. Parents, by the course I have recommended, very soon become interested in these daily questions of the teacher ; and they are often as eager to know what is the next ques- tion as the children are to report it. This course, then, will supply profitable topics of conversation at the fire- side, and very likely will encourage also the pursuit of useful reading. It will, moreover, soon awaken a deeper interest in the school on the part of the parents. They will begin to inquire of one another as to this new measure ; and when they find by conference that the RiaHT MODES OP TEACHING 129 Teacher is improved. feeling in this matter is becoming general, they will desire to visit the school to witness this as well as the other operations of the teacher. This will secure parental cooperation, and thus in every way the in- fluence of the school will be heightened. It is no small thing for a teacher to enlist the interest of his patrons in the success of his school ; and this is the most happily done, when it is achieved throngli the medium of the pupils themselves. 3. It wahes up the teacher's oivn mind. This is by no means the least important point to be gained. The teacher, by the very nature of his employment, by daily confinement in an unhealthy atmosphere, by teaching over and over again that with Avhich he is quite familiar, by boarding with people wlio are inclined to be social, and by the fatigue and languor with which he finds himself oppressed every night, is strongly tempted to neglect his own improvement. There are but few who rise above this accumulation of impediments and go on in spite of them to eminence in the profession. A large proportion of all who teach, rely upon the attain- ments with which they commence ; and in the course of two or three years, finding themselves behind the age, they abandon the employment. This is very natural. Any man wlio treads in a beaten track, like a horse in a mill, must become vreary, however valuable IBO THEORY AND PEACTICE OF TEACHIK(? Tlie teacher's temptations.— Books not to toe neglected. the product may be which he grinds out. It is essential that he should keep his own interest awake by some exercise of his ingenuity, and that he should compel himself to be industrious by undertaking that which will absolutely demand study. The above process will do this ; and while he may have the exquisite pleasure of seeing the growth of his pupils^ minds, he may also have the higher satisfaction of feeling the growth of his own. I must here add, that it has not been my intention, in what I have said, to inculcate the idea that the study of books should in the least degree be abated to make room for this process of leaking uj) mind. The various branches are to be pursued, and as diligently pursued, as ever before. The time to be set apart for this exercise should be short, — never probably to exceed five minutes. It is to come in when the scholars need rest for a mo- ment, and when, if not employed about this, they would probably be doing nothing, or, perhaps, worse than nothing. It should be managed with care and should never be made a hohby by teachers, as if it were of more importance than any thing else. One secret of success in this — as, indeed, in everything — is, that it should not be continued too long at once. The pupils should be left 'longing — not loathing'\ inant Modes of teachim 131 Given only as a specimen. Lot me again remind the reader that I have given the ahove as a sj^ecimen. The choice of tlie ear of corn was merely accidental ; it hapj^ened to lie on my table when I wanted a text. The teacher should look upon this simply as a specimen, and then choose his own subjects. The main point aimed at is this : — ]N"ever ask leading questions which your scholars can hardly fail to answer ; and never lecture to your pnj^ils till you have somehow first kindled in them a living desire to know ; that is, avoid alike the '^'drawing-out'" and the ^^pour- ing-in ^' process. Rather let it be your object to excite inquiry by a question they cannot answer without thought and observation, — and such a question as they would deem it disgraceful not to be able to answer. This adroitly done is " loahing ^ip mind '\ CHAPTER A^II CONDUCTING RECITATIONS IK considering a teacher's qualifications^ the powei of exciting an interest in the recitations of his school may not be overlooked. No man can he successful for any length of time without this. This comprises whj^t is nsually implied by aptness to teach. All men have not this faculty by nature in an equal degree. Some may talk for an hour upon an interesting topic in the presence of children without commanding their attention ; while there are others who can take even a common-place subject and secure for any length of time an all-absorbing interest in every word. This difierence is seen in every grade of public speakers, and in all descriptions of writers ; but perhaps more strikingly than anywhere else it is observable among teachers. Enter one school, and you may notice that the scholars are dull and listless ; indifference sits un- disturbed npon their brows ; or perhaps they are driven by the activity of their own natures to some expedient to interest themselves, while the teacher is with very commendable spirit, laboriously — perhaps learnedly — explaining some principle or fact designed for their CONDUCTING EECITATIONS 133 A contrast.— Not always a natural gift. edification. The secret is, lie has not yet learned to awaken their attention ; he fails to excite their interest. Pass to another school. A breathless silence per- vades the room ; the countenances of the children, upturned towards the teacher, beam with delight. As he kindles into earnestness and eloquence, they kindle into responsive enthusiasm. "Whenever his eye meets theirs, he sees — he feels the glow radiated by the fire lie is lighting in their souls, and his own gathers new warmth and enthusiasm in return. Such a man is apt fo teach ; and you could scarcely break the spell by which he holds his class, ^^ though you should give them for playthings, shining fragments broken from off the sun/^ lie who possesses this gift naturally, has very great advantage as a teacher to begin with. The ability to tell well what he knows, is of more consequence to the teacher, than the greatest attainments without the power to communicate them. Combine high attain- ments with the ability to tell, and you have the accomplished teacher. But this power to communicate is not necessarily a natural gift ; it comes not always by intuition. It can be acquired. It is founded in philosophy ; and he who can understand anything of the workings of his own mind, who can revert to the mental processes he went 134 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING How acquired.— Natural order. through in order to comprehend a, principle, who can go back to that state of mind ho was in before he com- prehended it, and then by one step more can put him- self in the place of the child he is teaching, realizing exactly his j^erplexities and feeling his precise wants, can become the ajit teaclier. Those who fail in this are usually those who have forgotten the steps they took to acquire their own knowledge, or perhaps who never noticed what steps they did take. To acquire this rare qualification should be the con- stant study of the teacher. To this end he should recall, as far as possible, the operations of his own mind in childhood. By studying his own mind, he learns, often most effectually, what he needs to know of others. Whenever he is preparing to teach any principle or fact to others, let him ask himself questions like the follow- ing : — What was the dark point in this, when I studied it ? Where did my mind labor most ? What point did my teacher fail to explain ? Such questions will fre- quently suggest the very difficulty which perplexes every mind in the same process. Again, the following inquiries may be very useful : — In studying this, what was the first point which appeared clear to me ? After this, what was the second step, and liotv did that follow the first ? The next in order ? And the next ? Was this the natural order ? If not, what is the natural CONDUCTING KECITATIONS 135 Science of teaching.— Thorough knowledge. order ? The right answers to these questions will suggest the course to be pursued in the instruction of a class. The teacher can scarcely ask a more important question than this : — miat is the natural order of pre- senting a given suhjed 9 The ability to determine this, is what constitutes in a great degree the science of teaching. This inquiry should occupy much thought because a mistake here is disastrous, and ever will be, as long as divine wisdom is superior to human. He who can ascertain the order of nature^ will be most sure of exciting an interest in the subject he is endeav- oring to teach. Some further suggestions as to conducting school recitations are contained in the following paragraphs. 1. The teacher should thoroughly understand what he attempts to teach. It is destructive of all life in the exercise, if the teacher is constantly chained down to the text-book. I have no objection, indeed, that he should take his text-book with him to the class, and that he should occasionally refer to it to refresh his own memory, or to settle a doubt. But who does not know that a teacher who is perfectly familiar with what is to be taught, has ten times the vivacity of one who is obliged to follow the very letter of the book ? His own enthusiasm glows in his countenance, sparkles in his eye, and leaps from his tongue. He watches the 136 THEORY AND PKACTICE OF TEACHIisG Its advantages to the teaclier.— Printed questions. halting of the 23U23il, perceives his difficulty, devises his expedient for illustrating the dark point in some new way, and, at the proper moment, renders just the amount of assistance which the pupil needs. Not confined to the text, he has the use of his eyes j and when *he speaks or explains, he can accompany his remark with a quickening look of intelligence. In this way his class is enlivened. They respect him for his ready attainment, and they are fired with a desire to be his equal. How different is it with a teacher who knows nothing of the subject but what is contained in the text before him, and who knows that only as he reads it during the intervals occasioned by the hesitations of the class. Every question he proposes is printed at the bottom of the page ; and as soon as lie reads the question, without a glance at the pupil, his eye sets out on a chase after the answer m the text. If the scholar has not already been stupified by such teaching, and happens to give an intelligent answer, yet not in the precise language of the book, he is set right by the teacher^s reading the very words, — just so much de- tached from the sentence, as he fancies was intended to answer that one question ! In this way he dis- courages thought in liis pupils, and sets a bounty on mechanical study. In this way, too, he congeals CONDUCTING RECITATIONS 137 Special preparation.— Tlie tables turned. whatever of interest they bring with them to the reci- tation^ and they sink into indifference, — or, following the instincts of their nature, they seek occupation in play or mischief, even under the sound of his voice ! 2. Tlie teacher should speeially ])re])are himself for each lesson he assigns. This is naturally suggested by what has just been said. The teacher's memory needs to be refreshed. We all know how difficult it would be to recite a lesson, in geometry for instance, weeks after studying it. It is so in other things, ^ow the teacher should be so familiar with the lesson which he proposes to hear recited, tliat ho could recite it himself as 2:)crfectly as he would desire his scholars to do it. This is seldom the case. I have heard a teacher, with the text-book in his hands, complain of the dullness or inaccuracy of his classes, when, if the tables had been turned, and the pupils allowed to ask the questions, the teacher would scarcely have recited as well. And I may add, this is no very uncommon thiiuj I If any one is startled at this assertion, let him request a friend, in whom he can confide, to ask him the ques- tions of a particular lesson in geography, or histor}^, or grammar. The teacher should daily study his class lessons. This will enable him the better to assign his lessons judiciously. In this daily study, he should master the text-hooh upon the subject ; and more than 138 THEOKY Aiq^D PRACTICE OF TEACHING Common-place book.— Its use. this, he should consider what collateral matter he can bring in to illustrate the lesson. He should draw upon the resources of his own mind, — upon the treasures of his common-ijlace looh,^ — upon the contents of some encyclopaedia, — upon any source, from whence he can obtain a supply of knowledge for his purpose. This will improve his own mind, and he will be encouraged, as from time to time he teaches the same branch, to find that he is able to do better than ever before, and that, instead of becoming weary with repetition, he is more and more enthusiastic in the subject. Going thus to his class — so full of the subject, that * It Is an excellent plan lor every teacher to keep a common-place book of considerable size, different portions of it being- set apart for the different subjects upon wbicli lie is to give instruction. On the first twenty pages, "Geography" may be the 7iertf7,— the next twenty pages may be set apart lor " History,"— twenty more may be assigned to ''Reading,"— and alike number to "Arithmetic," "Grammar," "Spelling," "Wanting," etc., re- serving quite a space for "Miscellaneous Matter." This would make a large book, but when it is remembered that it is to be used lor several years, it is well to have it large enough to contain a large amount of mat- ter. Now, whenever the teacher hears a lectui-e on a peculiar method of teaching either cf these branches, let him note the prominent parts of it under the proper head, and especially the iUustratlons. When he reads or hears an anecdote illustrating Geography, Histoiy, or Grammar, let it be copied under the proper head. If it illustrates Geography, let the name of the x)lace stand at its head. When he visits a school, and listens to a new explanation or a new process, let him note it under its head. In this way he may collect a thousand valuable things to be used with Judgment in his school. CONDUCTING RECITATIONS 139 Use of the eye.— Correct language.—" Sums." were the text-book annihilated, he could make another and better one — he will have no difficulty to secure attention. As he speaks, his eye accompanies his word, and as his pupils answer, he sees the expression of their countenances ; and what a world of meaning there is in this expression ! It betrays, better than words can do, the clearness or obscurity of the mind's perception, when a truth is presented. How different the beaming of the eye when the soul apprehends, from that almost idiotic stare at vacuity when words are used without import. And hoAV necessary it is that the teacher should be free to observe the inward workings of the soul as indicated upon the countenance. 3. The teacher should he aUe to lose our language ■flue^itly and correctly. In this many are deficient. They hesitate and stammer, and after all, express their ideas in vague terms, and perhaps by the use of inac- curate or inelegant language. A teacher in no way gives so effectual instruction in grammar as by his own use of our language ; and there can be no sight more mortifying than that of a teacher laboring to fix in the minds of his class some rule of syntax, when his own language at the very moment shows an entire disregard of the rule. It is very common to hear teachers talk of "sums" to their classes in arithmetic, and even to ask them to do *'sums" in subtration or division ! Th^ 140 THEOliY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHII^^G " Question. "—Anecdote.— Animation. term "question " is often as improperly applied, when no question is asked. The teacher should be accurate in the use of terms. ^' Question ^^ is sometimes the proper word; sometimes '^'^ problem^', and sometimes ^"^ exercise^', or '^ example"^ may with more propriety be used; but " sum'^ means the amount of several numbers when added, and it should not be applied as the name of an exercise. Some teachers use the terms ratio 2a\di proportion"^ interchaugeably, as if they were synonyms. Such inaccuracies in the teacher will be sure to be reproduced in the school, and it is a great evil for the scholar to acquire a careless habit in the use of terms. 4. He should have proper animation himself. Horace Mann describes some of the Scotch teachei's as working themselves up into a feverish excitement in the presence of their classes, and the classes in turn as literally bounding from the floor when they answer their hasty questions. ISTow, while I think these Scotch teachers go quite too far, I do think that many of our own teachers come short of a proper standard of animation. * We are reminded l»y tliis of tlie college student who was examined rattier closely toy his tutor. " What is ratio v "' inquired the tutoi-. "Ratio ? " said the young man, "ratio Is pi'oportion." "Well, what is pro- portion?" "Proportion? proportion is .ratio." "Well, then," said the tutor, looking perplexed, " what are tooth together ? " " Excuse me," said the pupil, '•'• I cantlejiiw Out onv at a timc.'^^ CONDUCTING RECITATIONS 141 Cliildren imitative.— Attitude.— The attention of the class. A teacher should be ready, without being rapid ; ani- mated, without being boisterous. Children are imitative beings ; and it is astonishing to observe how very soon they catch the manners of the teacher. If he is heavy and plodding in his movements, they will very soon be dull and drowsy in theirs ; then, if he speaks in a sprightly tone, and moves about with an elastic step, they almost realize a resurrection from the dead. If he appears absent-minded, taking but little interest in the lesson which is recited, they will be as inattentive, at least, as he ; while, if all his looks and actions indicate that the subject is of some importance, he will gain their attention. Nor can I refrain in this place from suggesting to the teacher the importance of regarding his manners, while engaged in conducting a recitation. His attitude should not be one of indolence or coarse- ness, — and when he moves from his seat, and appears at the blackboard to illustrate any point, it should be done gracefully, and with a constant regard to the fact, that every look and every motion teaches. 5. He should never proceed without the attention of the class. A loss of interest is sure to follow a want of attention. Besides, a habit of inattention, while it is very common, is also a great calamity to the person who falls into it during life. Many a sermon is lost upon a portion of the audience in our churches every 142 THEOKY AKi) PRACTICE OF TEACHIN^G A routine.— "Books but helps."— Utility. Sabbath from this cause. When the attention is aroused, the impression made is enduring ; and one idea then communicated is worth a hundred at any other time. 6. Avoid a formal routine in teaching. Children are very apt to imbibe the notion that they study in order to recite. They have but little idea of any pur- pose of acquirement beyond recitation ; hence they study their text book as mere words. The teacher should, as soon as possible, lead them to study the sub- ject, using the book simply as an instrument. ^^ Books are but helps ^' — should become their motto. In order to bring this about, the instructor would do well occa- sionally to leave entirely the order of the book, and question them on the toinc they have studied. If they are pursuing arithmetic, for instance, and they have carefully prepared a definite number of problems, it might be well to test their ability by giving them at the recitation others of the teachers' own preparing, in- volving an application of what they have learned to the business of life. This will lead them to study intelli- gently. Besides, as soon as they begin to see how their knowledge is to be \iseful to them, they liave a new motive to exertion. They should be so taught as to discover that grammar will improve their understanding and use of language ; that writing will prepare them COKDUCTIKG RECITATIONS 143 Intelligible language.— An example quoted. for business, and by enabling them to communicate with their friends, will add to their enjoyment ; and so of readino- and the other branches. 7. Be careful to use language wliicli is intelligible to children, ivhenever an exjolanation is give7i. The object of an explanation is to elucidate, to make clearer. How is this object accomplished when the explanation is less intelligible than the thing explained ? Suppose a child should ask her teacher to explain the cause of cold in winter and heat in summer ; in other words, the cause of the change of seasons. '^ Oh, yes,^' says he, pleasantly. '' The annual revolution of the earth round the sun in connection with the obliquity of the ecliptic, occasions the succession of the four seasons. ^^* The child listens to these '^^ words of learned length" and is aston- ished at the learning of her teacher, but she has no clearer idea than before of the point she inquired about. Mr. S. R. Hall, in his lectures, gives the following forcible illustration of the same point. '^ Will you please to tell me why I carry one for every ten ? " said little Laura to her instructor. ^^Yes, my dear," said he, kindly. '^ It is because numbers increase from right to left in a decimal ratio." Laura sat and repeated it to herself two or three times, and then looked very sad. The master, as soon as he had answered, pursued his •Worcester's Oeograpliy, 144 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHIXG Honest confession,— not mystification. other business and did not notice lier. But she was disappointed. She understood him no better than if he had used Avords of another language. '' Decimal '' and ''^ ratio'" were words that might have fallen on her ear before^ but if so^ she understood them none the better for it. She looked in the dictionary and was disappointed again^ and after some time, put away her arithmetic. When asked by her teacher why she did so, she replied, ''1 don't like to study it ; I can't understand it." " Now the injury to little Laura was very great. She had commenced the study with interest ; she had learned to answer a great many questions in arithmetic and had been j^leased. She was now using a slate and writing her figures on it, and had found the direction to carry one for every ten. This she might have been made to understand. The master loved his scholars and wished to benefit them, hut forgot that terms i)erfectly iilain to him tvould le uninielligihle to the child. From that moment Laura disliked arithmetic, and every elf ort that could be used with her could not efface the impression that it was a hard study, and she could not understand it.'' While upon this subject, I might urge that teachers should not resort to evasion when they are not alle to explain. It is a much more honorable, and far more satisfactory course, for the teacher frankly to confess his inability to explain, than to indulge in some ridic- CONDUCTING RECITATIONS 145 Example.— More requires more ! iilous mysticism to keep up the show of knowledge. I may never forget the passage I first made through the Rule of Three, and the manner in which my manifold perplexities respecting ''^ direct and inverse " proportion were solved. ''Sir/'^ said I^ after puzzling a long time over ^ more requiring more and less requiring less ' — '^will you tell me Avhy I sometimes multiply the second and third terms together and divide hy the first — and at other times multiply the first and second and divide by the third ? " " Why, because more requires more some- times, and sometimes it requires less — to be sure. Haven^t you read the rule, my boy ?^' '' Yes, sir, I can repeat the rule, but I don't understand \i." ^^Why it is because ' more requires more and less requires less ' ! " '' But why, sir, do I multiply as the rule says V " Why, because ^more requires more and less requires less' — see, the rule says so." ''I know the rule says so, but I wished to understand tvhy." — ^'^Why? why?" look- ing at me as if idiocy itself trembled before him — 'Mvhy ?— why because the rtde says so ; don't you see it 9 — l^^il/ore requires more and less requires less I " — and in the midst of this inexplicable combination of more and less, I shrunk away to my seat blindly to follow the rule because it said so. Such teaching as this is enough to stultify the most inquiring mind ; and it is to secure the Messing of relief from such infiuence to 146 THEORY AI^B PRACTICE OE TEACHIK(? Accurate and prompt recitation.— It saves time. the children of any ioarticular district, that we come to consider an occasional change of tesLchers s.7nitigated evil. 8. Eeqaire jJrompt and accurate recitation. I know of nothing that will abate the interest of a class sooner than dull and dragging recitations. The temptation in such cases is very strong for the teacher to help the class by the '^^ drawing-out process ^^ before described. This, however, only makes the matter worse. The dull recitation calls for the teacher^s aid. ; and his aid reproduces the dull recitation. The only way is to stop at once, and refuse to proceed till the recitation can go alone. It is just as easy to have good lessons as poor ; and the teacher should have the energy to insist upon them. Mark the countenances of a class as they go to their seats after a good recitation. They feel that they have done something, and they look as if they valued the teacher^s approbation and their own so highly, that they will learn the next lesson still better. It is moreover a great saving of time, to have the lessons ^n'omptly recited. This saving will afford the opportunity to introduce those additional illustrations I have before suggested, in order to excite a still deeper interest. It may sometimes, though not always, be well to make a prompt and perfect recitation the condiiion of introducing the additional matter. 9. Rely not too much upon simultaneous recitation. CONDUCTIKa KECrrAtiO.NS 147 simultaneous recitation.— Sometimes allowable. Tills has become quite too fashionable of bite. It had its origin in the Large schools established some years since, known as Lancasterian schools, and perhaps was well enough adapted to schools kept upon that plan in large cities. But when this mode of reciting is adopted in our district and country schools, where the circumstances of large numbers and extreme backwardness are wanting, it is entirely uncalled for, and like other city fashions transferred to the country, is really out of i^lace. Seriously, I look upon this as one of the prominent faults in many of our schools. It destroys all indepen- dence in the pupil by taking away his individuality. He moves with the phalanx. Learning to rely on others, he becomes superficial in his lessons. He is tempted to indolence by a knowledge that his deficiencies will not stand out by themselves ; and he comforts himself after a miserable recitation with the consoling reflection that he has been able to conceal his want of thorough- ness from his teacher. It may sometimes be useful. A few questions thus answered may serve to give animation to a class when their interest begins to flag ; but that which may serve as a stimulant must not be relied on for nutrition. As an example of its usefulness, I have known a rapid reader tamed into due moderation by being put in com- panionship with others of slower speech, just as we 148 THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHINGf Its evils.— When ?— The teacher inoTnes Jtis niarlc at recitation. tame a friskful colt by harnessing him into a team of grave old horses. But aside from such definite purpose, I have seen no good come of this innovation. I am satisfied its prevalence is an evil, and worthy of the careful consideration of teachers. By the foregoing means and others which will sug- gest themselves to the thoughtful teacher^s mind, he can arouse the interest of his classes so that study will be more attractive than play. For this object every teacher should labor. It is of course impossible to give specific rules to meet every case ; it is not desirable to do it. The teacher, put upon the track, will easily devise his own expedients ; and his own, be it remem- bered, ^vill usually he found the hest for him. As a motive for every teacher to study carefully the art of teaching well at the recitation, it should be borne in mind that then and there he comes before his pupils in a peculiar and prominent manner ; it is there his mind comes specially in contact with theirs, and there that he lays in them, for good or for evil, the founda- tions of their mental habits. It is at the recitation in a peculiar manner, that he makes his marh upon their minds ; and as the seal upon the wax, so his mental character upon theirs leaves its impress behind ! CHAPTER VIII EXCITIKG INTEREST IX STUDY IT is ever an interesting question to the teacher, and one which he should consider with great care — '^ How can I excite an interest among my pupils in their studies ?" The intelligent teacher feels that this is the great question ; for he foresees that, if he fails here, his difficulty in governing his school will be very much increased. He therefore turns his attention with deep solicitude to the motives he may present, and the methods he may employ to awaken and keep alive the interest of the school. If he has reflected at all upon the subject, he has already arrived at the conviction, that it is necessary for the good of all concerned that the interest awakened should be an abiding one ; that it should not only not abate during the term of school, but continue — nay, grow stronger and stronger — even after school-days have passed away. There is probably no greater mis- take in education, than that of raising in school an artificial excitement, which may aid perhaps in securing better recitations, but which will do nothing toward putting the mind into such a state that it will press on (149) 150 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING A common mistake. —Emulation.— Perplexity. ill the pnrsnit of knowledge ever after the living teacher lias closed his labors. The higher principles of our nature being aroused with difficulty, are too apt to be neglected by the teacher, and thus they remain in their original feeble- ness ; while he contents himself Avith appealing to our lower characteristics, — thus doing a lasting injury by unduly cultivating and strengthening them, at the same time that he awakens after all but a temporary interest. In view of the importance of the subject, and the diihculty of judging aright upon it, I shall make no apology for devoting a few pages to the consideration of SECTION I — INCENTIVES TO STUDY — EMULATION. The teacher will find in a greater or less degree, in the mind of every child, the principle of Emulation. It is a question very much debated of late, What shall he do with it ? Much has been said and written on this question, and the ablest minds, both of past ages and the present, have given us their conclusions res])ecting- it ; and it often increases the perplexity of the young teacher to find the widest difi'erence of opinion on this subject among men upon whom in other things he would confidingly rely for guidance. Why, asks he, why is this ? Is there no such thing as truth in this EXCITING ]^TEKKST IN^ STUDY 151 Experimenting.— Its evil consequences. matter ? or iiave these men misunderstood each other ? AVlien they have written witli so miicli ability and so much earnestness, — some zealously recommending em- ulation as a safe and desirable principle to be encouraged in the young, and others as warmly denouncing it as altogether unworthy and improper, — have they been thinking of the sa7ne thing? Thus perplexed with conflicting opinions, he is thrown back upon his own reflection for a decision ; or what is more common, he endeavors to find the truth by exi^erimenting upon his pupils. He tries one course for one term, and a differ- ent one the next ; repeats both during the third, and still finds himself unsettled as he commences the fourth. Meantime some of his experiments have wrought out a lasting injury upon the minds of his pupils ; for, if every teacher must settle every doubt by new exjoeri- ments upon his classes, the progress that is made in the science and art of teaching must be at the untold ex- pense of each new set of children ; — just as if the young doctor could take nothing as settled by the experience of his predecessors, but must try over again for himself the effect of all the various medical agents, in order to decide whether arsenic does corrode the stomach and produce death, — whether cantharides can be best applied inwardly or outwardly, — whether mercury is jiaost salutary when administered in ounces or grains. 152 THEORY AISTD PRACTICE OF TEACHIKG Two senses.— Define tbe terms. or whether repletion or abstinence is preferable in a fever ! When such is the course of a young practitioner in a community, who does not confidently expect the churchyard soon to become the most populous district, and the sexton to be the most thrifty personage in the village, unless indeed he too should become the subject of experiment ? But is there not a good sense and a bad sense, asso- ciated with the term Emulation ; — and have not these eager disputants fallen into the same error, in this mat- ter, that the two knights committed, when they immolated each other in a contest about the question whether a shield was gold or silver, when each had seen iut one side of it 9 I incline to the opinion that this is the case, — and that those who wax so warm in this con- test, would do well to give us at the outset a careful depiition of the term Emulation", as they intend to use it. This would perhaps save themselves a great deal of toil, and their readers a great deal of perplexity. Now it seems to me the truth on this question lies within a nutshell. 1. If emulation means a desire for improvement, progress, groivth, — an ardent wish to rise above one's j^resent condition or attainments, — or even an aspiration to attain to eminence in the school or in the world, it is a laudable motive. This is self-emula- tion. It presses the individual on to surpass himself. EXCITING INTEREST IN STUDY 153 The good sense.— The bad sense. It compares his present condition with what he would be — with what he ought to be ; and ^'forgetting thosQ things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those which are before, he presses towards the mark for the prize." "An ardor kindled by the praiseworthy examples of others, inciting to imitate them, or to equal, or even excel them, without the desire of de- pressing them",* is the sense in which the apostle uses the term [Romans xi. 14] when he says : " If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them." If this be the meaning of emulation, it is every way a worthy principle to be appealed to in school. This principle exists to a greater or less extent in the mind of every child, and may very safely be strengthened by being called by the teacher into lively exercise ; provided always, that the eminence is sought from a desire to be useful, and not from a desire of self-glorification. 2. But if emulation, on the other hand, means a desire of suiyassmg others for the sake of surpassing them ; if it be a disposition that will cause an individual to be as well satisfied with the highest place, whether he has risen above his fellows by his intrinsic well-doing, or they have fallen below him by their neglect ; if it puts him in such a relation to others that their failures will » Dr. Webster, 154 THEORY AN^D PRACTICE OF TEACHING Characteristics.— Ambition. be as gratifying to him as Ms own success ; if it be a principle that prompts the secret wish in the child that others may miss their lessons, in order to give him an opportunity to gain applause by a contrast with their abasement, — then, without doubt it is an unworthy and unholy principle, and should never be encouraged or appealed to by the teacher. It has no similitude to that spirit which prompts a man to ^^ove his neighbor as himself '\ It has none of that generosity which rejoices in the success of others. Carried out in after-life, it becomes amhition, such as fired the breast of a Napoleon, who sought a throne for him- self, though he waded through the blood of millions to obtain it. It is to this principle that the apostle, before quoted, alludes, when he classes emulation with the ^'^ works of the flesh", which are ihese : "adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, Emulatioi^, wrath, strife, seditions, etc., — of the which things, I tell you before, as I have told you in times past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.''' It is of this principle that the commentator, Scott, remarks: — "This thirst for human aj)plause has caused more horrible violations of the law of love, and done more to desolate the earth, than even the grossest sensuality ever did.'' EXCITING INTEREST IN STUDY 155 The two views of emulation compared. Thus Emulation is a term which indicates a very good or a very bad thing, according to the definition we give it. In one view of it, the warmest aspirings to rise are consistent with a generous wish that others may rise also. It is even compatible with a heartfelt satisfaction in its possessor, at the progress of others, though they should outstrip him in his upward course. It is the spirit which actuates all true Christians, as they wend their way heavenward, rejoicing the more as they find the way is thronged with those who hope to gain an immortal crown. In the other view of it, we see men actuated by sel- fishness mingled with pride, inquiring, in the spirit of those mentioned in scripture, " Who among us shall be the greatest ? " We everywhere see men violating these sacred injunctions of divine wisdom: '^^Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth."' ^^Let nothing be done through strifo or vain-glory ; but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves." — ''In honor preferring one another." If such be the true pictures of emulation, in both the good and the bad sense, certainly teachers cannot hesi- tate a moment as to their duty. They may apj^eal to the principle first described, — cultivate and strengthen it ; and in so doing, they may be sure they are doing a 156 THEORY AND PliACTICE OF TEACHING The teacher's duty.— Objections.— Answers. good work. But unless they intend to violate the teachings of common sense, and the higher teachings of Christianity, / hnoiu not liow tliey can aiJincd to the principle of enudation as defined in the second case. But it may be urged that the teacher will find emula- tion, even iii this latter sense, existing in human nature ; that he cannot get rid of it if he will ; that it will be one of the most active principles to which he can resort in arousing the mind to exertion ; and, furthermore, that it has been appealed to by many of the most eminent teach-ers time out of mind. To this it is replied, that it is not disputed that chil- dren are selfish ; and that this selfishness may indeed be made a powerful instrumentality in urging them forward to the attainment of a temporary end. But does the existence of selfishness prove that it needs cultivation in the human character ? And Avill the end, when attained, justify the means ? Is the end, what- ever it may be, if attained at such a cost, a blessing to be desired ? Will not the heart suffer more than the head will gain ? It may be further urged, that the child will find the world full of this principle when he leaves the school ; and why, it is asked, should he at school be thrown into an unnatural position ? I answer that evil is not to be overcome by making evil more prevalent, — and though EXCITING INTEREST IK STUDY 15? Furtlier objections.— Emulation not essential to success. there may be too much of self-seeking in tlie world, that is the very reason why the teacher should not encourage its growth. The more true Christianity prevails in the world, the less there will be of that spirit Avhich rejoices at another's halting ; hence I am convinced the teacher should do nothing to make that spirit more prevalent. Nor is it essential to the progress of the pupil even temporarily, since there are other and worthier princi- ples which can be as successfully called into action. If we look carefully at the expecUe7icy of thus stimu- lating the mind, we find that after the first trial of strength, many become disheartened and fall behind in despair. It will soon be obvious, in a class of twenty, who are i\iQ fetu that will be likely to surpass all others ; and therefore all the others, as a matter of course, fall back into envy, perhaps into hopeless indifference. Who has not seen this in a class in spelling, for instance, where the strife was for the "lieacl'^ of the class, but where all but two or three were quite as well satisfied with being at the "foot " ? It does not then accomplish the purpose for which it is employed ; and since those who are aroused by it are even more injured than those who are indifferent, their undesirable qualities being thus strengthened, the opinion is entertained that those teachers are the most wise^ who bend their ingenuity 158 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING The conclusion.— Prizes.— Honest investic?ation. to find sbme other means to awaken the minds of the children under their charge. From what has been said, then, Enmlation is to be recognized or repudiated among the incentives of the schoolroom, according to the signification we assign to the term. SECTION II — PRIZES It has for a long time been the custom of teachers to offer ?>om.e prize as an incentive to exertion in school ; a j)rize of some pecuniary value, a book, or a medal. In some places beneficent individuals have bestowed by legacy the means to purchase annually the prizes thus to be used. Every young teacher is called upon, there- fore, to inquire whether such an incentive is a proper one to be employed in the schoolroom. If there is any good to be expected from such an incentive, will it counterbalance the evils that spring from the practice ? Will the good of the whole school be promoted by such a measure, — and will this be a permanent or a temporary good ? These are questions which press for an honest answer ; and the faithful teacher should not shrink from a careful investigation of the whole matter ; and if he finds good reason to differ from time-honored authority, he should abide by the truth rather than by prescriptive usage. EXClTIi^G INTEREST IK STL'JJY lo9 Experience.— Its results.— Reasons assigned. Ill my own case, I may be allowed to say, my mind was early turned to this point ; though, I confess, with a strong bias in favor of the use of prizes. Pretty thoroughly for a series of years did I test their efficacy, but with a growing conviction, that the prize was not the proper instrumentality to create a healthy interest in the school. This conviction acquired additional strength by three or four years^ trial of other incentives ; and it was fully confirmed afterwards by a trial made for the purpose of testing again the efficacy of a prize, at an age when I could more carefully watch the Avorkings of the human mind, and better appreciate the benefits or evils resulting from such a measure. I am now free to say that I am satisfied that prizes offered to a school in such a way thctt all may compete for them, and only tivo or three oUain them, will ahvays le productive of evil consequences, far overhalancing any temporary or partial good that may arise from them, and therefore they ought not to he used as iyicitements in our schools.^ Having expressed an opinion so decidedly upon a measure which claims among its friends and advocates * It may be Avell to remind the reader that I have used the term Prizes ■here In contradistinction from a system of Rewards, by which the teacher proposes to give some token of his regard to every one who does well,— and the more brilliant success of a few does not necessarily preclude others from participating In the favor according to their merit. Of such a system Of Rewai'ds I shall have something to say presently. 160 THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHING Prize becomes the leading motive.— Eng-enclers rivalry. some of the best minds in the country, I shall be expected to assign some reasons for the faith I enter- tain. From this I shall not shrink. I proceed there- fore to express such objections to the use of prizes, as have been suggested to my mind by my own experience, and confirmed by the experience and observation of others in whom I have great confidence. I. The offer of a prize gives undue prominence to a comparatively unworthy object. It practically teaches the child to undervalue the higher reward of a good conscience, and a love of learning for its own sake. The dazzling medal is placed in the foreground of hi-s field of vision ; and it is very likely to eclipse those less showy but more abiding rewards found in a sense of duty and a desire to be qualified for usefulness. In studying his lesson he thinks of the ^j>r/;2e. He studies that he may merely recite well ; for it is a good recita- tion that wins the prize. He thinks not of duty, or of future usefulness; the ^^rize outshines all other objects. II. The p)ursuit of a prize engenders a spirit of rivalry among the pupils. Eivalry in pursuit of an object which only one can attain, and which all others must lose, must end in exultation on the part of the winner, and disappointment and envy on the part of tlie losers. It may be said, this ought not to he so ; but seldom can it be said, that it is not so. Such is human EXCITIKG I]S'TEREST IK STUDY 161 The few only are stimulated.— Exceptions.— In spite of tiie system. nature, and such it ever will be. Unpleasant feelings — sometimes concealed, to be sure — but generally ex- pressed in unequivocal terms — grow out of the award of almost every school prize, and sometimes continue to exert their baleful influence through life. 'Now as long as human nature brings forth unlovely traits almost spontaneously, such direct efforts to cultivate them surely are not called for. , It is the part of wisdom, then, to omit such culture and avoid such results, especially when safer means are so accessible. III. The Jiojje of gaining the ^Jrize stimulates only the few, while the many hecome indifferent. This is ad- mitted to be true even by the advocates of the prize system. Let a prize be oifered in any class as a reward for the best scholarship, and in a very few days it becomes perfectly obvious to ad who the two or three are that will be likely to outstrip all the others. These two or three will be stimulated to exertion ; but tlie strife is left entirely to them. All others, despairing of success, resolve at once to 'Het their moderation be known to all men " ; and since the prize has been made so prom- inent an object, they cannot be expected now to look at any thing above and beyond it. Feeling that they are not Jikely to participate in the honors of the class, they have but little disposition to share in its toils. This to be sure is not always so. There are some. 162 THEORY AN^t) PRACTICE OF TEACHING^ Why prize scliolars finally fail. who, ceasing to strive for tlie prize, toil for the more substantial blessing— a good education, — and in the end come out the best scholars. This is the way indeed most of our strong men are made ; for it has long been remarked that the jt^r/^e scholars in our schools, and even in our colleges, do not usually become the most distinguished men. On the other hand, many of them are never heard of after receiving their honors. But, though some of the slower scholars do thus hit upon the true path to eminence, it is not to be set to the credit of the system ; they rise in sinte of the system rather than by virtue of it ; while the ultimate failure of the prize scholars is usually directly attributable to the defect of the system ; for having been unduly stim- ulated to study solely with reference to recitation, and not with regard to future usefulness, their memories have been developed out of all proportion to the other faculties of their minds ; and, though they may have been very good reciters, they have no power to become independent tliinhers. Under different training they might have become strong men. But to look no further than the school, the remark holds true in general, that prizes stimulate the few, and tlie many hecome iiidifferent not only to prizes, but to other and better motives. That system of incentives pnly can be approved which reaches and influences EXCITING INTEREST IN STUDY 163 The teacher should reach all.— Difficulty in awarding the prize. successfully all the mind subjected to its operation. Nor is this an unimportant consideration. It is not sufficient praise for a teacher that he has a few good scholars in his school. Almost any teacher can call out the talent of the active scholars and make them brilliant reciters. The highest merit, however, lies in reaching all the iniinis, the dull as well as the active, and in making the most of them, or rather in leading them to make the most of themselves. It should be remembered of every child, that the present is his only opportunity of being a child, and of receiving the train- ing appropriate to childhood ; and that teacher who rests satisfied with a system that does not reach the many, while he amuses himself and his visitors with the precocity of a few of his most active scholars, is recreant to his resjionsihle trust. IV. Titer e is much difficulty in aumrding the 'prize so as to do strict justice to all. So many things are to be taken into the account in order to determine the excellence of a performance compared with others, that some particulars are very likely to be overlooked. Those who are called to judge of the results often dis- agree among themselves. The following anecdote will illustrate this. Three literary gentlemen were appointed to select the best from several compositions, presented by a class, who had written them in competition for a 164 THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHING Judges disagi-ee.— A fact.— The parties dissatisfied. gold medal. Each of the gentlemen carefully read the whole number in private, and conscientiously selected the hest according to his judgment. When they came together to comi^are results, it was found that each man had selected the lest, but that no two had selected the same ! They carefully read and compared the three, and still each insisted that his original choice was the best. After much debate and considerable delay, one of the parties being obliged to go to his business, re- lieved himself from a painful detention, and his friends from a perplexing doubt, by saying he believed the composition he had selected was the test, but, as he could not stop to claim its rights, he would yield them in favor of the second best in the hands of one of his as- sociates. This ended the dispute, and the action in favor of the successful one, was declared to be una7iimous ! This only proves how difficult it is to decide ; and in the case just cited, it might well be asked, why should one of these competitors be held up to the multitude to be applauded and admired, and the others sent back to their classes covered with the shame of a failure : What principle oi justice sanctioned this decision ? Nor is this a solitary instance. It rarely happens that the case is perfectly clear. There is usually much perplexity about it ; and hence one reason why the de- cision seldom satisfies the friends of the parties eithei EXCITING IJSfTEKPJST IN STUDY 165 Various external aids: exemplified.— Improper means used. in the school or at home. But other considerations besides the intrinsic merits of the performance are to be taken into account in awarding a prize ; as, 1. A difference in the external facilities ivliicli tlie competitors enjoy for getting the lessons. One pupil may be the son of poverty, and be compelled to labor during all the hours out of school ; another may be in easy circumstances, and have nothing to prevent giving undivided attention to study during the whole day. One may be the child of parents who have no power to render assistance by way of explaining a difficult ^ooint ; while the other may have all his doubts removed at once by parental aid. One may never even be encour- aged by a kind word at home ; another is constantly urged to effort, and perhaps not allowed to be idle. One may have access to no books but his school- manuals ; the other may have at his command a large library. This difference in circumstances should be taken into the account ; but it never can be fully un- derstood by those who are called to decide. 2. Tlie improper means ivhich may have teen em- ployed to secure the prize. Ambition when aroused is not always scrupulous of its means. One competitor may be high-minded ; may enter the arena determined to succeed by an honorable strife ; may resolve to suc- ceed by his own exertions, or to fail rather thaij bring 166 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING An "authoress !" in anything which is not the fruit of his own study. Another, regardless of honor or principle, resolves only to succeed, whatever it may cost ; hesitates not to copy from others if possible, or to apply to a brother in college or some friend in the High School to furnish the difficult solution, prepared to order. One young lady spends days and nights in arranging the glowing thoughts for her composition, determined if industry, study, good taste, and a careful application of the rules of rhetoric can effect anything, that her production shall be worthy of a prize. Another, in no way dis- tinguished for scholarship, industry, or honor, writes a careless letter to a married sister in a distant city, invoking her aid. In due time the mail brings an elegant essay. It is copied with sufficient accuracy to be read, and at the examination takes the prize ! The fair '' author ess'' stands forth and is flattered before the multitude, — is perhaps made to believe that she is worthy of praise ; she grasps the golden bauble, and, covered with the blushes of modesty, receives the con- gratulations and caresses of friends, and is afterwards reputed a good scholar. Her competitors meantime become convinced that effort cannot rival genius ; they are mortified to think they have presumed to enter the arena with native talent, and become disheartened as to any future attempt. EXCITING INTEREST IN STUDY 167 Abuses.— system unsafe.— Success overrated. Now where is the justice in all this proceeding ? Yet this is not fiction ; it is history ! If such abuses — abuses that might well make an angel weep, revealing, as they do, that woman^s heart can be thus sold to de- ception — are the accompaniments of a prize system, may we not well doubt the utility of that system ? Yet who can know either the different facilities en- joyed by the competitors, or the want of principle in some of them ? Who can enter the secret chambers of the mind or the heart, and estimate with any accuracy the just amount of merit in any action ? This is God^s prerogative ; while " man looketh only on the outward appearance." My inference then is : A system can hardly he safe whicli is so uncertain. V. The inize reiuards success, not effort ; talent, not WORTH. Every one knows that in estimating the value and virtue of an action, the motive which prompted it, and the effort it necessarily cost, should be taken into the account. Every one knows, too, tliat success in study is by no means a criterion by which to judge of the merits of the scholar. Some learn their lessons with great facility and with but little effort ; others study long and patiently without any brilliant results. One com- petitor for a prize may bring results which have cost him midnight toil and the most unremitting perseverance : another with brighter parts, and with but little labor, is 168 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING But God rewards.— How ? able to surpass him^ and takes the medal. Now the former deserves in a far higher degree the encouragement of the reward ; yet it is given to him who has the talent but who lacks the industry. The rule of Scripture which an- nounces that " to whom much is given, of him slialhnuch he required'', is violated, and he is rewarded for pro- ducing but little more than the one to whom little is given. It is often urged by those who advocate a system of prizes and rewards, that God reivards ; and therefore it is at least justifiable that we should imitate his example. I admit that God, in his government, does reward ; but he rewards effort rather than success; he ^Mooketh upon the heart ^' as man cannot do, and re- wards worth, not talent. We might, indeed, imitate his example, if we had less frailty, and were not so liable to be imposed upon by the outward appearance. God indeed rewards men ; but he estimates the secret intention, seeing the inward springs of thought before they find expression in words or actions. He regards the motive, and holds out for the encouragement of the humblest child of earth, who does the best he can, as rich a crown of glory, as he does for those whose out- ward circumstances, in the eyes of mortals, are more auspicious. Wlien man can as wisely and as righteously bestow his prizes and rewards, there will be far less objection to their use. EXCITINO INTEREST IN STUDY 169 Studying for a prize onlj'.— Argument perverted. VI. The piqyil who studies for a prize as his chief motive, ivill seldo7n continue to study ivhen the prize is withdrcmn. This is so obvious as scarcely to need illustration. If it be necessary to add anything to the mere statement of the fact^ an appeal to almost univer- sal experience would confirm it. A teacher who has depended upon prizes in a school, finds it very difficult to awaken an interest there when he withdraws the prize. Hence many have^ on trying the experiment of abandoning the prize system, become discouraged, and have returned again to tlio use of j^rizes, believing them essential to their success. Thus the very argument which shows most clearly their pernicious tendency, is made a reason for continuing them. As before hinted, the prize scholars in our academies, and even our col- leges, are seldom distinguished men in after-life, — a fact that speaks conclusively on this point. But it can scarcely be necessary to spend words to "^rove a truth almost self-evident. VII. By the pirize system, the influence of the good example of some of the test pupils, is lost upon the school. All who have taught, know how important this influence is to the success of the school. It tells with resistless power upon the other scholars, wherever it exists, unless some uuAvorthy motive can be assigned for it. But under the prize system, let a teacher appeal 170 THEOKY AND PKACTICE OF TEACHIl^^G " He is studying for tne prize."— System of rewards.— Not necessary, to the example of his best scholars, and the reply is, ^^ Oh, yes, he behaves well, or he studies diligently, but he is tryi7ig to get the prize." With this understanding, his example becomes powerless, unless, indeed, there may be a disposition to be unlike him in every thing. It is believed this is a consideration of considerable im- portance. I have thus assigned, at some length, the reasons why I should discountenance, among the incentives of the school, the use of Prizes. As to the use of '^ Re- wards ", when they are made so numerous that every one who is really deserving may receive one, — and when the basis of their distribution is not talent, not success merely, but good intention and praiseworthy effort, — I have much less to say. As expressions of the teacher^s interest in the children, and of his approval of their well-doing, they may serve a good end. Perhaps there is no very strong objection to them in principle ; though if the teacher subjects himself to the necessary outlay in the purchase of them, it may become burdensome to him. I may add, however, that / do not thinTc reivards are necessary to the teacher^s success. I should prefer to do without them. It is possible to produce such a feeling in the schoolroom that the approving con- science of the child and the commendatory smile of the teacher shall be the richest of all rewards, These EXCITING INTEREST IN STUDY 171 Wliy not?— Safe incentives.— ApproTjatlon of friends. come without money and without price, and may always be freely and safely bestowed, wherever there is a good intention exhibited by the child. That is the most healthy state of things where these are most prized. As children whose parents begin early to hire them to do their dnty, are seldom ready afterwards to render their cheerful service as an act of filial obligation, when- ever the pay is withheld, — so children at school, who have been accustomed to expect a reward, seldom pur- sue their studies as cheerfully when that expectation is cut off. SECTION III — PROPER INCENTIVES In what has already been said, it has been more than hinted that there are higher attributes than emula- tion, which the teacher should address, and which, if he is successful in calling them into exercise, will be quite sufficient to ensure the proper application of his pupils to their studies. They have the merit, moreover, of being safe. They do not unduly stimulate the in- tellectual, at the expense of the moral faculties. Their very exercise constitutes a healthy growth of the moral nature. Some of these I may briefly allude to. I. A DESIRE TO GAIN THE APPROBATION OF THEIR PARENTS AND TEACHER. — The lovc of approbation is' ^§ universal in the human mind as emulation. Not one 172 THEORY AND niACTICE OF TEACHING Twice blest."— Desii-e to advance. in ci thousand can be found wlio does not possess it. Within 2:)]'0|)er limits, it is a desirable trait in human character. It is, to be sure, one of the selfish propen- sities ; but among them all, it is the most innocent. Carried to an extreme, it -would lead its possessor to crave the good opinion of the bad as well as of the good, and to become an obsequious seeker after popu- larity. This, of course, is to be deprecated. But there can be no danger of this extreme, as long as the approbation of parents and teachers is tlie object aimed at. It implies in the child a respect for the opinions, and a confidence in the justice of his parents and teachers ; and hence it implies in him a generous de- sire to please, as a condition of being commended by them. In this sense, the love of approbation may be ap- pealed to by the teacher. He perhaps need not fre- quently use the language of praise. It will generally be sufficient, if the smile of approval beams forth in his countenance. If he is judicious as well as just, this boon soon becomes a precious oue to the child. It is a rev\^ard moreover, which " is twice blest ; It biessetli liim wlio gives and liini who takes." II. A DESIRE OP ADVANCEMENT. — This is emulation in its (/ood sense. It leads the child, as before remarked, EXCITIKG INTEREST IN" STUDY l'j'3 Desire to l3e useful.— Desire to do riglit. to compare his present standing and attainments with what they should be, and to desire to surpass himself. This is ever commendable. Man was made for progress ; and it is no unworthy aspiration, when this desire fires the youthful breast. The teacher, then, may appeal to this desire, may kindle it into a flame even, with safety,— because it is a flame that warms without con- suming that on which it feeds. III. A DESIRE TO BE USEFUL.-The good tcaclier should never fail to impress upon the child that the object of his being placed on earth, was that he might be of some use to the world by which he is surrounded. '' No man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself He can be thus useful by storing the mind with knowledge and the heart with right affections. He may be reminded of the connection between his present studies, and the pursuits of life to which they may be applied. Some judicious hint at the future application of any branch is always a good preparation of the mind to pursue it. If there is a definite object in view, there will always be more alacrity in the labor of study ; and this may be made to influence the young pupil as well as the more advanced. It is no small thing for the child if he can be early made to feel that he is living to some purpose. IV. A DESIRE TO DO RIGHT. — This, in other words, is a disposition to obey conscience by conforming to the 174 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Conscience active in cliildlioocl. will of God. This indeed is the highest and holiest of all the motives to human action. In its fullest sense it constitutes the fundamental principle of a religious character. The teacher should most assiduously culti- vate in the child a regard for this principle. God has implanted the conscience in every child of earth, that it should early be made use of to regulate the conduct. That teacher is either grossly ignorant or madly per- verse, who disregards the conscience, while he appeals alone to the selfishness of the young, and thus practi- cally teaches that moral obligation is a nullity ; that the law of God — so beautifully expounded by the Saviour — " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,^' and ^'^Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself ^^ — is of little consequence ; and that the injunction of the apostle — ^' Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God,^^ is as good as obsolete. In early chilhood the conscience is most active. It needs, to be sure, at that period to be enlightened ; but if the teachings of Revelation are made plain to the child, he seldom disregards them. The teacher has at this period very much to do, as I have before said in the chapter on Responsibility of Teachers ; and he cannot neglect his duty without the most aggravated v^ulpability. The point I urge here, is, that he should EKCITING INTEKEST IK STUDY 11f6 Sense of obligation. use these motives as incentives to study. The child can be made to feel that he owes the most diligent efforts for improvement to his teacher, who daily labors for his improvement ; to his parents, who have kindly supplied his wants, and have provided the means for his cultivation ; to society, whose privileges he may enjoy, and to which he is bound to make a return by becom- ing an intelligent and useful member of it ; to himself, as a rational and immortal being, capable of unbounded enjoyment or untold misery, just in proportion as he pre- pares himself for either ; and above all to his Ckeator, by whose bounty he lives, surrounded with friends and blessed with opportunities, which are denied to millions of his fellow-beings, — by whose gracious providence he has been endowed with faculties and capabilities making him but little lower than the angels, and which he is bound to cultivate for usefulness and for heaven, — by whose mercy he has been supplied, as millions have not, with the word of God, to guide his mind to things above, and with the influences of Christian society, to cheer him in his path to heaven ; — above all, I repeat, should the child be taught to feel that he owes to God his best efforts to make the most of all his powers for time and eternity. If this can be done, (and I believe to a great extent it can be done,) there will be no need of a resort to those questionable incentives found in exciting chil- 176 THEORY AXD PRACTICE OF TEACHING ■ • The pleasure of acquisition.— Acquirements of tliree years. clren to outstrip their fellows by prizes and rewards ; while in this very process the foundation of a good moral training will be laid, without which the perfect structure of a noble character can never be reared in later life. To the motives already alluded to, if it be necessary to add another, I would urge, V. The PLEASURE of acquisition. — This is often underrated by teachers. Our Creator has not more universally bestowed a natural appetite for the food which is necessary for the growth of the body, than he has a mental longing for the food of the mind ; and as he has superadded a sensation of pleasure to the neces- sary act of eating, so he has made it a law of the mind to experience its highest delight while in the act of re- ceiving the mental aliment. Whoever has observed childhood with an attentive eye, must have been im- jjressed with the wisdom of God in this arrangement. How much the child acquires within the first three years after its birth ! He learns a difficult language with more precision than a well-educated adult for- eigner could learn it in the same time ; yet language is not his only or his chief study. During these same three years, he makes surprising advances in general knowledge. He seeks an intimate acquaintance with all the physical objects by which he is surrounded, ■EXClTlKft iNtERtlST IK STUDY 177 Mr. Maun quotetl.— The blind and the dumb. The size, form, color, weight, temperature, and use of each are investigated by the test of his own senses, or ascertained by innumerable inquiries. His ideas of height and distance, of light and heat, of motion and velocity, of cause and effect, are all well defined. He has made no mean attainments in morals. He com- l^rehends the law of right and wrong so that his decis- ions may well put to the blush his superiors in age ; and unless grossly neglected, he has learned the duty of obedience to parents and reverence towards God. Now all this amazing progress has been made, because of the irrepressible curiosity with which God has en- dowed him, and the unspeakable delight 1 e experiences in acquiring the knowledge which gratifies it. All must have noticed the delight with which the child grasps a new idea ; but a few have been able so eloquently to describe it, as it is done by Mr. Mann. ''Mark a cliikl," says he, ''when a clear, well-defined, vivid conception seizes it. The whole nervous tissue vibrates. Every muscle leaps. Every joint plays. The face becomes auroral. The spirit flashes through the body like lightning through a cloud. "Observe, too, the blind, the deaf, and the dumb. So strong is their inborn desire for knowledge, — such are the amazing attractive forces of their minds for it, that although the natural inlets, the eye and the ear, are 178 THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHING Tills pleasure abates In after life.— Mind may be surfeited. closedy yet they will draw it inward, through the solid walls and encasements of the body. If the eye be cnr- taihed with darkness, it will enter through the ear. If the ear be closed in silence, it will ascend along the nerves of touch. Every new idea that enters into the presence of the sovereign mind, carries offerings of delight with it, to make its coming welcome. Indeed, our Maker created us in blank ignorance, for the very purpose of giving us the boundless, endless j)leasure of learning new things.''^ It is, of course, not to be expected that the same degree of pleasure will attend the learner in every acquisition as the novelty diminishes, and as he ad- vances in age. The bodily appetite is less keen in after life than in childhood, so that the adult may never realize again to the full extent the delicious flavors which regaled him in his earliest years. Still there will ever be a delight in acquisition ; and to carry our illustration a little further, — as the child is soonest cloyed whose stomach is surfeited with dainties, and stimulated with condiments, and pampered with sweet- meats, till his taste has lost its acumen and digestion becomes a burden ; so the mental appetite is soonest destroyed, when, under the unskillful teacher, it is overloaded with what it can neither digest nor dis- gorge. The mind may be surfeited ; and then no EXCITING iXTEREST IK" STUDY 17(1 A desire tx) know.— Instance of God's wisdom and goodness. wonder if it loathes even the wholesome aliment. Arti- ficial stimulants, in the shape of prizes, and honors, and flattery, and fear, and shame, may have impaired its functions, so that it ceases to act except under their excitement. But all must see that these are unnatural conditions, superinduced by erroneous treatment. There is still a delight in acquisition, just as soon as the faculties are aroused to the effort ; and the skillful teacher will strive to wahe iip the mind to find this de- light, — and if he understands his work, he will scarcely need a stronger incentive. If he understands the secret of giving just so much instruction as to excite the learner's curiosity, and then to leave him to discover and acquire for himself, he will have no necessity to use any other means as stimulants to exertion. To this might be added that irrejjressilile curiosity, that all-pervading desire to Icnoio, which is found in the mind of every child. The mind, as if conscious of its high destiny, instinctively spreads its unfledged wings in pursuit of knowledge. This, with some children, is an all-sufficient stimulant to the most vigorous exertion. To this the teacher may safely appeal. Indeed, it is a convincing proof of the wisdom as well as the goodness of God, that this desire to hnow, as well as the delight of acquisition, are the most active at that early period of childhood, when a just appreciation of the utility of 180 Tiii:dKY akd practice Of TEACHiKa A scholium. knowledge, and the higher motives already detailed, could scarcely*find a lodgement in the tender mind. It seems to be, tlierefore, an indisputable dictate of our very nature, that both these 2^rinciples should be early employed as incentives. If, then, the desire of the approval of parents and teachers, — the desire of advancement, — the desire to he iisefiil, — and the desire to do right, can be superadded to the natural love in the child for acquisition, and a natural desire to know, there will, as I believe, be but little occasion to look further for incentives to exertion in the pupil ; and I may venture to add, as a scholium to what has already been said, that the teacher who has not yet learned to call into exercise these higher motives, and to rely for success mainly upon them, and who dares not abandon the system of exciting stimulants for fear of a failure, has yet mnch to learn as a true educator of the young. CHAPTER IX SCHOOL GOVERNMENT IT is not necessary that any space in this work shonki be occupied in speaking of the importance of order in onr schools. Everybody who has written or spoken on this subject, has conceded the necessity of obedience on the part of the pupih " Order is heaven's first LAW ; '^ and it is scarcely more essential to the harmony of heaven, than it is to the happiness and success of the school. If such be the necessity of order in the school, then the ability to secure and maintain it is no mean j^art of the qualification of the good teacher. It is lamentable that so many fail in this particular ; and yet this frequent failure can in most cases be traced to some defect in the constitutional temperament, or some deficiency in the mental or moral culture of the teacher himself. It shall be my first object, then, to point out some of the section I — requisites in the teacher FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT. I. Self-government. — It has frequently been said that no man can govern others till he has learned to (181) 182 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Angry passions.— Manner.— Levity and moroseness. govern himself. I have no doubt of the ti-nth of this. If an individual is not perfectly self-possessed, his decisions must fail to command respect. The self- government of the teacher should be complete, in the following particulars : 1. ^5 to tlie 2)assion of anger. The exhibition of anger alwa3'S detracts from the weight of authority. A man under its influence is not capable of doing strict justice to his pupils. Before entering upon teaching, therefore, a man should somehow obtain the mastery over his temper, so that under any provocation he can control it. lie should consider that in school his patience will often be severely tried. He should not expect, indeed, that the current of affairs in school will for a single day run perfectly smooth. He should, therefore, prepare for the worst, and firmly resolve that, whatever unpleasant thing shall occur, it shall not take him entirely by surprise. Such forethought will give him self-command. If, however, from his past experience, and from the nature of his tempera- ment, he is satisfied he cannot exercise this self-control, he may be assured he is the wrong man to engage in teaching. A man who has not acquired thorough ascendancy over his own passions, is an unsafe man to be intrusted with the government of children. 2. As to levity and moroseness of manner. Either SCHOOL GOVERN' MEKT 183 Ridiculous assumption of smartness. extreme is to be tivoided. There are some teachers who exhibit such a frivolity in all their intercourse with their pupils, that they can never command them with authority, or gain their cordial respect. This is a grievous fault ; and the teacher should at once find an antidote for it, by serious reflection upon the responsi- bility of his position. If this will not cure it, nothing else can. There are others who are characterized by a per- petual pevishness, so that a pleasant word from them is indeed a strange thing. They can never expect to gain the affections of their pupils ; and without securing the love of children, the government of them will never be of the right kind. This habit of snapjjisliness should be broken up at once. There are some very young teachers, who sometimes assume one or the other of these peculiar modes of address, or perhaps both, to be used alternately, — fancy- ing that they will gain popularity by the one, or give themselves greater authority by the other. This is a very mistaken notion ; for children have more discernment than most men give them credit for, and they usually see directly through such a flimsy dis- guise, — and the teacher becomes ridiculous rather than great in their estimation, whenever he takes any such false position. 184 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING "Mr. Abbotts case.—" Take off your hats. " Mr. Abbott, in his ^^ Teacher/^ states a fact which well illustrates this point. ^^Many years ago," says he, ^^when I was a child, the teacher of the school where my early studies were performed, closed his connection with the establishment, and, after a short vacation, another was expected. On the appointed day the boys began to collect, some from curiosity, at an early hour, and many speculations were started as to the character of the new instructor. We were stand- ing near a table with our hats on, — and our position, and the exact appearance of the group is indelibly fixed on my memory, — when a small and youthful- looking man entered the room and walked up towards us. Supposing him to be some stranger, or rather, not making any supposition at all, we stood looking at him as he approached, and were thunder-struck at hearing him accost us with a stern voice, and sterner brow : — ' Take off your hats ! Take off your hats, and go to your seats.' The conviction immediately rushed upon our minds that this must be the new teacher. The first emotion was that of surprise, and the second was that of the ludicrous ; though I believe we contrived to smother the laugh until we got out into the open air.'' The true rule is to act the part which is agreeable to nature. The teacher having gained the self-command just insisted upon, and having in him the spirit of SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 185 Treatment of peculiar pupils.— Injusti ce.— Self-reliance. kindness and a desire to be useful, should assume nothing unnatural for effect. His manner should be truly dignified, but courteous. 3. As to his treatment of tJwse picpils that are marhed hy soine peculiarity. There will usually be some pupils who are very backward, and perhaps very dull,— or who may have some physical defect, or some mental eccen- tricity. The teacher should be able to govern himself in all his remarks concerning such pupils. He should avoid allusion to such singularities before the school ; and it is the height of injustice — I was about to say, of malevolence — for him ever to use those low and de- grading epithets so often found upon the teacher^s tongue, — such as dunce, thickskull, and the like. Is it not misfortune enough for a child to be backward or dull, without having the pain and mortification in- creased by the cruelty of an unfeeling teacher ? The teacher should take a special interest in such children ; he should endeavor to enter into the feelings of their parents, and to treat them in such a way as to en- courage rather than crush them. II. A CONFIDENCE IN HIS ABILITY TO GOVERN.— We can generally do what we firmly believe we can do. At any rate, a man is more likely to succeed in any enter- prise, when he has the feeling of self-reliance. The teacher, by reflection upon the importance of good 186 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Views ol government.— Not tyranny. government to his success, and by a careful study of the means to be employed and the motives to be pre- sented, should be able to bring himself to the determi- nation to have good order in his school, and so fully to believe he can have it, that his pupils shall detect no misgivings in him on this point. Whenever they dis- cover that he has doubts of his success in governing, they will be far more ready to put his skill to the test. It would be better that a young teacher should decline to take a difficult school, rather than enter it without the full belief of his ability to succeed. I would not wish to be understood by these remarks to be en- couraging an unreasonable and Uincl i)ve8umption. A confidence in one^s ability should be founded upon a reasonable estimate of his powers, compared with the difficulties to be overcome. What I recommend is, that the teacher should carefully weigh the difficulties, and candidly judge of his own resources, and then undertake nothing which he thinks is beyond his ability. If, after this, he believes he can succeed, other things being equal, success is almost certain. III. Just views of Government. — 1. It is not tyranny, exercised to please the one who governs, or to promote his own convenience. The despot com- mands for the sake of being obeyed. But government in its proper sense, is an arrangement for the general SCHOOL GOVEKNMEl^T 187 Uniform. —Equality. good, — for the benefit of the governed as well as of the ruler. That is not good government which seeks any other object. The teacher should so view the matter ; and in establishing any regulations in school, he should always inquire whether they are suggested by a selfish regard to his own ease, or whether they spring from a sincere and disinterested wish to promote the improve- ment of the school. 2. He should see the necessity of making the govern- ment uniform ; that is, the same from day to day. If he punishes to-day what he tolerates to-morrow, he cannot expect the cordial respect of his pupils. Some teachers, not having learned the art of self-government, take counsel too much of their own feelings. To-day they are in good health and spirits, and their faces are clothed in sunshine; they can smile at any thing. To-morrow, suffering under bad digestion, or the want of exercise, or the want of sleep, the thunder-storm hovers about their brow, ready to burst upon the first offender. Woe to the luckless wight wlio does not seasonably discover this change in the condition of the weather. A teaclier cannot long respect himself who is thus capricious ; he may be sure his school will not long respect him. 3. He should so view government as to make it equal ; that is, equal in its application to the whole school, — 188 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHIl^G No aristocracy in school.— No partiality. the large as well as small scholars, the males as well as females. This is often a great fault with teachers. They raise up a sort of aristocracy in their schools, a privileged class, a miniature nobility. They will insist that the little boys and girls shall abstain from certain practices, — whispering, for instance, — and most prompt- ly punish the offenders, while they tolerate the same thing among the larger pupils. This is cowardly in itself, and as im2:)olitic as it is cowardly. The teacher makes a great mistake who begins his government with the small children, in the hope of frightening the larger ones into obedience. He should have the man- liness and the justice to begin with the larger pupils ; the smaller ones never resist, when authority is estab- lished with those above them. Besides this, the very class who are thus indulged, are the very ones who soonest despise, and justly too, the authority of the teacher. He should make his government im])artial in every respect. He should have no favorites — no preferences based upon the outward circumstances of the child, his family, or his personal attractions, and the like. The rich and the poor should be alike to the teacher. He should remember that each child has a soul ; and it is with the soul, and not with the wealth of this world, that he has to do. He should remember that a gem. SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 18^ Views ottlie governed.— Reason.— Affection.— Conscience. as bright as a sunbeam, is often concealed nnder a rough exterior. It shonki be his work, nay his delight — to bring ont this gem from its hiding-place, and apply to it the polish of a " workman that needeth not to be ashamed '\ IV. Just views of the Governed. — Notwithstand- ing the imperfection of human nature, as developed in the young, they have some redeeming qualities. They are intelligent and reasonable beings. They have more or less love of approbation ; they have affection, and, above all, they have a moral sense. All these qualities are considerably developed before they enter the school. The teacher should remember this, and prepare himself to address, as far as may be, all tliese. Love of «;j7_;ro- hation, as we have before seen, is not an unworthy motive to be addressed, and it is well known that many children are very easily controlled by it. It is not the highest motive, to be sure, nor is it tlie lowest. The affection for a teacher, which many children will ex- ercise, is one of the most powerful instrumentalities in governing them with ease. The conscience, early trained, is all-powerful. I allude to these principles of action once more, in order to say that the peculiar character of each should be well studied by the teacher. He should understand the human mind so well as to be able to find the avenues to these better parts of the 190 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Decision.— Firmness.— Tlie unjust judge. child's nature, remembering that wlienever several ways are presented of doing the same thing, it is always wise to choose the best. V. Decision and Firmness. — By decision, I mean a readiness to determine and to act in any event just as duty seems to dictate ; a willingness to take the respon- sibility just as soon as the way is plain, ^y firmness, is meant that fixedness of jmrpose which resolutely car- ries out a righteous decision. Both of these qualities are essential to good government in the teacher. Much time is often lost by a teacher's vacillating when action is more important. Besides, if the pupils discover that the teacher hesitates, and dreads to take any responsibility, they very soon lose their respect for him. I would not urge that a teacher should act hastily. He never should decide till he is confident he decides right ; any delay is better than hasty error. But his delay, in all matters of government, should have reference to a true knowl- edge of his duty; when that is clearly known, he should be decided. Many teachers suffer in their government for want of firmness. They act npon the principle of j)ersonal convenience, as did the unjust judge mentioned in the parable. '' And he would not for a while ; but after- wards he said within himself. Though I fear not God nor regard man ; yet hecause this widow troubleth me, SCHOOL OOVEJiNMKiNT 11)1 A practical example.— Philosopliizing.— Conclusion. I will arise and avenge her, lest hy her continual coming she weary me." How often we hear something like this in the schoolroom. ^"^May I go and drink ?^' — says James, in a peculiarly imploring tone, "^o," says the teacher, promptly, and evidently without any reflection as to the decision he has made. James very composedly sits down, eyeing the countenance of the teacher expressively, as much as to say, 'TU try you again soon." Before long he observes the teacher quite busy with a class, and he again pops the question : " May I go and drink ? '' Stung at the moment with impatience at the interruption, the teacher answers instantly and emphatically, ''jSTo, no, James ; sit down." J.imes still watches his teacher's expression, and cannot discover there any signs of a mind seeking the path of duty, and he silently thinks to himself, ''The third time never fails." So, after a minute or two, when the teacher is somewhat puzzled with a knotty question, and is on i\\Q point of nibbing a pen besides, — "May I go and drink, sir ? " again rings upon the teacher's ear. '' Yes, yes, yes ! do go along ; / suppose you'll keep ashing till you get it." Now James goes to drink, and then returns to philosophize npon this matter, perhaps as follows : — ''I don't believe he stopped to think whether I needed drink or not ; therefore hereafter I shall never believe . 193 THEORY AKD PKACTICE OF TEACHIKO A loetter way.— Moral and religious principle. he really means 710, when he says it. He acts without thought. I have also found that if I will but ask several times I shall get it. So I shall know how to proceed next time.^^ — I do not know that any child would express this thought in so many words ; but the impression upon his mind is none the less distinct. Now the teacher should carefully consider the ques- tion addressed to him. How long since this child had water ? Can it be necessary for him to drink so often ? Then let the answer be given mildly, but decidedly — ^'^0, James. ^' The very manner, quite likely, will settle the question, so that James will not ask again. The answer once given should be finnly adhered to. It would even be better that James should suffer for the want of water than for the want of confidence in his teacher^s firmness. In this way the teacher would establish his word with the school in a very few days ; and his pupils would soon learn that with him " no means no,"' and '^' yes means yes^^ — a matter of no small importance to the teacher of a school. VI. Deep Moral Principle. — The teacher should ever be a conscientious man ; and in nothing is this more necessary than in the exercise of good government. In this matter the teacher can never respect himself when he acts from caprice or selfishness. His inquiry should be. What is right ? What is justice — justice to SCHOOL GOTEEKMENT 193 First impressions. my pupils — to myself ? And if he could add to moral obligation the high sanctions of religious principle, and could habitually and sincerely turn his thoughts to his Maker, with the heartfelt inquiry — What wilt thou have me to do ? — then he would seldom err in the dis- charge of this trust. His pupils, seeing that he acted from fixed and deep principle, would respect his honesty, even if he should cross their desires. Having now dwelt at some length upon the requisites in the teacher for good government, I shall next proceed to present some of the sectioi^ ii — means of securing good order. 1. Be careful as to the first impression you MAKE. — It is an old proverb, that ^^what is well begun is half done." This holds true in school-keeping, and particularly in school-government. The young study character very speedily and very accurately. Perhaps no one pupil could express in words an exact estimate of a teacher's character after a week's acquaintance ; but yet the whole school has received an impression which is not far from the truth. A teacher, then, is very unwise who attempts to assume to bo anything which he is not. He should ever be frank ; and in commencing a school he should begin as he can hold out. Any assumption of an authoritative tone is espec- IM THEORY AJTD PRACTICE OF TEACHING Respect precedes attacliment.— Tlie rough and tlie gentle way. ially ill-judged. The pupils at once put themselves in an attitude of resistance when this is perceived by them. A teacher should ever remember that among children — however it may be among adults — respect always pre- cedes attacliment. If he would gain the love of the children, he must first be worthy of their respect. He should therefore act deliberately, and always conscien- tiously. He should be firm but never petulant. It is very important at the outset that he should be truly courteous and affable. It is much wiser to request than to command, at least until the request has been disre- garded. There are usually two ways of doing a thing, — a gentle and a rough way. ^'^John, go and shut that door,^^ in a gruff tone, is one way to have a door closed. John will undoubtedly go and shut the door — perhaps with a slam, — but he will not thank the teacher for the rough tones used in commanding it. Now it costs no more time or breath to say, '^ John, 1^11 thank you if you will shut that door.^' Most cheerfully will John comply with the request, and he is grateful that he has heard these tones of kindness. If he could but know the teacher^s wishes afterward, he would gladly perform them unasked. I would by no means recommend the adoption of the fawning tone of the sycophant by the teacher. He should be meanly and dignified ; but the language of that courtesy which springs from real kin(i- SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 195 Avoid tlie suspicious spirit.— A bad boy saved. ness, and which ever becomes the gentleman is always the most suitable as well as most expedient for him. II. Avoid exhibiting or entertaining a sus- picious SPIRIT. — It is a maxim of law, that one charged with crime is always to be presumed innocent until proved guilty. This should be a maxim with the teacher who would govern well. There is no more direct way of making a school vicious, tlian by showing them that you suspect they are so. A good reputation is dear to all ; and even a bad boy will be restrained from wicked acts as long as he thinks you give him credit for good intentions. But if he finds that he has lost your good opinion, he feels that he has nothing further to lose by being as bad as you suspect him to be. A teacher is wise, therefore, if he tries to see something good even in a vicious pupil. It may be, as it often has been, the means of saving such a pupil. I have known a very depraved boy entirely reformed in school, by his teacher's letting him know that he had noticed some good traits in his character. He after- wards told his teacher that ^^he had been so often suspected to be a villain, that he had almost come to the conclusion that he would be one ; but that, when he found one man who could do him the justice to give him credit for a few good feelings — (for he knew he had them) — he at once determined to show that man 1^6 THEOHY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHlK(? Token of confidence.— Employment. that his confidence had not been misplaced ; and that he would sooner die than knowingly offend the only person who ever had understood him." It is wise sometimes, not only to withhold the ex- pression of suspicion, but to give some token of your confidence to the pupil who is troublesome. Intrust him with some errand involving responsibility, or assign to him some duty by way of assistance to yourself, and very likely you will gain his good-will ever after. This is founded upon the well-known principle in human nature acted upon by Dr. Franklin, who, when he would gain his enemy, asked him to do him a favor, III. As SOON AS POSSIBLE GIVE REGULAR AND FULL EMPLOYMENT. — It is an old proverb that '* Idleness is the mother of mischief". The nursery hymn also con- tains a living truth — " And Satan finds some mischief still For idle bands to do." It is the law of a child's nature to be active ; and as the teacher is placed in the school to give direction to such minds, he can hardly complain of their going upon forbidden objects unless he seasonably provides something better for them to do. Very early, then, the teacher should endeavor to classify his school and furnish constant and full em- ployment — either of study, recitation, or relaxation — SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 197 Tlie teaxilier may euforce employment.— Few rules. for every hour in the day. The teacher shoiikl have a plan when he opens the school, and the sooner it is carried into full operation the better.* Besides, when a teacher has given employment, he has a right to insist upon the pupil's being engaged in study. Nobody will question this right; and it is far more profitable to require a positive duty than to enjoin a negative, — such as abstinence from whispering or from mischief in general. IV. Make but few rules. — It is a very common thing for teachers to embarrass themselves by a long code of requirements and prohibitions. Some go so far as to write out a system of laws, and, annexing to each the penalty for its infringement, post them up in a conspicuous place in the schoolroom. Others content themselves with a verbal announcement of them, and rely upon the memories of the pupils to retain the de- tails of them and to govern themselves accordingly. This, it seems to me, is a great mistake. The multi- plicity of specific rules for the government of a school, will naturally lead to a multiplicity of offences. Chil- dren will be confused by the varying and sometimes conflicting demand of a formidable code of regulations, and in endeavoring to avoid Scylla will be likely to fall into Charybdis. Is is believed by some honest states- » See Chap. x. ol this work, 198 THEOKY AND PBACTICE OF TEACHING Tlie world lias Ijeen governed too mucli.— Do rigM. men that ^' the world has been governed too much ; " and it is often alleged in support of this belief that successful compliance with the laws requires far more wisdom than was displayed in making them ; that is, the science of ohedience is far more abstruse than the science of legislation! AVhether this be true in the civil world or not I shall not attempt to decide ; I will only say that such has too often been the fact in the schoolroom. It is in my oj)inion the part of wisdom, and I think also the teaching of experience, that it is best to make but few. rules. The great rule of duty, quoted once before, "Do unto others as you would that they should do to you," comprises quite enough to begin with. The direction — Do right, is a very comprehensive one. There is in children an ability to distinguish between right and wrong, upon which the teacher may ever rely ; and by insisting upon this as the standard, he daily brings into exercise the conscience of the child, who is called upon to decide. Is this right ? Besides, if a school is to be governed by a code of laws, the pupils will act upon the principle that ivhatever is not proscribed is admissihle. Consequently without in- quiring whether an act is right, their only inquiry will be. Is it forbidden ? Now no teacher was ever yet so )vise as to make laws for every case j the consequence SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 199 Embarrassmeut in executing laws.— No discretion. is, he is daily perplexed with unforeseen troubles, or with some ingenious evasions of his inflexible code. In all this matter the worst feature is the fact that the child judges of his acts by the law of the teacher rather than by the law of his conscience, and is thus in danger of perverting and blunting the moral sense. To this it may be added that the teacher will often find himself very much perplexed in attempting to judge the acts of his jiupils by fixed laws, and in award- ing to all violations of them a prescribed penalty. Cases will frequently occur in which two scholars will offend against a given prohibition, with altogether dif- ferent intentions, — the one having a good motive and forgetting the law ; the otlier with the law in his mind and having a wicked design to violate it. Now the written code with its prescribed penalty allows the teacher no discretion. He must maintain his law and punish both offenders, and thus violate his own sense of justice ; or he must pass both by, and thus violate his word. He cannot excuse the one and pnnish the other, as justice would evidently demand, without set- ting at naught his own laws. An example Avill illustrate this point. A teacher has made a rule that ^^any child who whispers without leave shall hQ feruled.'^ ]^ow two little boys sit side by side. William is an amiable, obedient, and diligent 200 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Illustration.— A rtllemma. little boy, who has never violated intentionally any wish of his teacher ; while Charles is a sour-tempered, vicious, unprincipled fellow, who a dozen times within a week has sought to make his teacher trouble. Little John, who sits near to William, drops his pencil, and it falls under William's desk. John looks for his pencil on the right and left of his seat, grows anxious and perplexed. William has noticed him, and he carefully picks up the pencil, while he perhaps is looking for it in another direction, — and with the kind intention of relieving Ins neighbor's anxiety and restoring his prop- erty, he touches his elbow, and softly whispers, '^^Here is your pencil, John,'' — then immediately resumes his own studies, and is probably entirely unconscious that he has violated any law. At the same instant the art- ful Charles, half concealing his face with his hand, with his wary eye turned to the teacher, wilfully addresses another pupil on some point in no way con- nected with study or duty. The teacher sees both these cases, and calls the offenders to his desk. The one trembles, and wonders what he has done amiss, while the other perhaps prepares himself to deny his offence, and thus to add falsehood to his other sins. The rtile awards to both the ferule. It is applied to Charles with energy, and with the conviction that he deserves it ; but I ask, can a man with any sense of SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 201 Hint for young teachers.— Tlireatening. justice raise his hand to punish William ? If so, I see not how he can ever again hold converse with his own conscience. Yet the rule allows him no discretion. He must violate either the rule or his conscience ; and too often in such cases he chooses the latter alternative. Now my advice is, malce hut feto rules, and never multiply them till circumstances demand it. The rule of right will usually be sufficient without any special legislation ; and it has this advantage, that it leaves the teacher the largest discretion. I have been thus full on this point, because so many fail here, and especially young teachers. It has cost many a young teacher much bitter experience to make this discovery for himself ; and I have desired to save others who may hereafter engage in teaching, the pain and perplexity which they may so easily and so safely avoid. For similar reasons I should also urge that the teacher should avoid the too common practice of threat- ening in his school. Threatening is usually resorted to as a means of frightening children into their duty,^ and, too often, threats are made without any expecta- tion of a speedy necessity either to execute or disregard them. The consequence is, they are usually more ex- travagant than the reality, and the teacher's word soon passes at a discount j his threats are viewed as very 202 THEORY ANJJ PRACTICE OF TEACHING Wake up mind.— Varieties in school. much like the barking of a dog \yhich has no intention to bite. As threatening is moreover the language of impatience, it almost always leads to a loss of respect. V. Wake up mikd iis- the school, axd in the dis- trict. — There is usually but very little trouble in government where the scholars are deeply engaged in their studies or school exercises, and especially if at the same time the feelings of the parents are enlisted. To this end I would recommend that early attention should be given to some efforts to ivahe up mind, such as have been described in a former section of this work. It will be found, when skilfully conducted, one of the most successful instrumentalities in aid of good order and good feeling in the school. An ingenious teacher, too, may introduce other varieties into the school exercises, and thus sometimes turn the attention of discontented pupils from some evil design to give him trouble. So long as the teacher keeps steadily the main object of his school in view, namely, progress in the studies, he is excusable if occa- sionally, to break up monotony and excite a deeper interest, he introduces a well-considered new plan of study or of recitation. Indeed, much of his success will depend upon his power to do this, and in nothing will its advantages appear mo're obviously than in the government of the school. A great portion of the di?- SCHOOL GOVEllNMENT 203 Vocal music— German proverb. order and insubordination in our schools has its origin m a want of interest in the school exercises. He is the successful teacher and the successful disciplinarian who can excite and maintain the necessary interest. As one of these varieties, I may mention the exercise of vocal music in school. I have already alluded to it. As a means of keeping alive the interest in a school, it is very important. Music is the language of the heart, and though capable of being grossly perverted — (and what gift of God is not ?) — its natural tendency is to elevate the affections, to soothe the passions, and to refine the taste. '^The Germans have a proverb,'^ says Bishop Potter, ^Svhicli has come down from the days of Luther, that where music is not, the devil enters. As David took his harp, when he would cause the evil spirit to depart from Saul, so the Germans employ it to expel tlie obduracy from the hearts of the depraved. In their schools for the reformation of juvenile offenders, (and the same remark might be applied to those of our own country,) music has been found one of the most effect- ual means of inducing docility among the stubborn and vicious. It would seem that so long as any remains of humanity linger in the heart, it retains its susceptibility to music. And as proof that music is more powerful for good than for evil, is it not worthy of profound con- 204 THEOKY AND PKACTICE OF TEACHIiq'G Easily Introcluced iu scliools.— Visit pareDts. sideration that in all the intimations which the Bible gives lis of a future world music is associated only with the employments and happiness of Heaven ?" Almost any teacher can introduce music into his school ; because if he cannot sing, he will always find that it will only require a little encouragement to induce the scholars to undertake to conduct it themselves. It will consume but very little time, and it is always that time which, if not employed in singing, would other- wise be unemployed or misemployed. It is the united testimony of all who have judiciously introduced sing- ing into their schools, that it is among the best instru- mentalities for the promotion of good feeling and good order. VI. Visit the parekts of your scholars. — I shall more particularly enjoin this, when I speak of the teacliefs relation to Ids patrons [chap, xi.], but I cannot forbear in this place to urge it upon the teacher as one of the means of securing good order in school. A great deal of the insubordination in our schools arises from some misunderstanding, or some dislike entertained by the parent towards the teacher, and spoken of in presence of the children. AYhatever the pupils hear at home they will be likely to exemplify in school. It should be the teacher's first object to become acquainted with the parent, and to let him understand. School goverkmekt 205 Keasons why.— Registers of credits.— Why credits. by a personal interview, all his plans and aims for the improvement of the school. This can be done best at the parent^'s own fireside. It has often happened that by a friendly visit of an hour by the teacher the parent's heart has been softened, his prejudices re- moved, his co-operation gained, and the cheerful and cordial obedience of his children in school secured. These visits should of course be made in the true spirit of the teacher. They should be made in the honest desire of his heart to render his labors more successful. A visit made in such a spirit seldom fails to make the parents personal friends ever after ; and of course in case of a collision afterwards between him and their children, this is a very important j)oint. VII. Eegisters of Credits. — Registers of the stand- ing of pupils in their schools and their classes are very highly recommended by some whose experience is en- titled to confidence. I am inclined to place this among the means of securing good order. I would recommend, however, that they should be registers of credits only. Some recommend the use of " Hack rnarks " , that is, the record of prominent faults and perhaps of punish- ments. My own experience teaches me that this is unwise. The teacher should not shoAV a willingness to record and publish the faults of a pupil. He should, on the contrary, show a tender regard for his reputation. 206 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHIKG Government not tlie business of the teacher.— Mr. Howard's remark. Besides, the child is less likely to be mindful of his duty when his reputation is already Machened by his teacher. If registers are to be kept at all, they should record the successes and virtues of the child rather than his failures and faults. And if, at the end of a week or a month, he is furnished with an abstract for the inspec- tion of his parents, let it be so much of good*character as he has earned for himself during the specified time. I confess I am less sanguine than many others as to the utility of the register, as an incentive either to obedience or to diligence ; but if used at all, I think the above restriction is highly important. VIII. Avoid goyeri^ing too much. — By this I would be understood to urge upon the teacher the fact that his main business in school is instruction and not government. Government is a means and not the end of school-keeping. A very judicious and practical teacher — Mr. R. S. Howard — has well remarked: '^^The real object to be accomplished, the real end to be ob- tained in school, is to assist the pupil in acquiring knowledge, — to educate the mind and heart. To effect this, good order is very necessary. But when order is made to take the place of industry, and discipline the place of instruction, where the time of both teacher and pupils is mostly spent in watching each other, very little good will be accomplished. '' SCHOOL GOVEllNMEN'T M An official visit.—'' Order, there !"— A scene. It is a mistake that many teachers fall into, that they seem to regard government as their chief occupation ; and, as we should naturally expect in such cases, it is often very poorly exercised. That is not the best gov- ernment which is maintained as a matter of formal business. The noiseless under-current is far more efficient. I have always noticed that men govern best ivlieii they do not seem to govern ; and those who make most effort and bustle about it themselves are pretty sure to have the most boisterous schools. I once in company with a friend officially visited a school where the teacher, a man of strong frame — six feet high, and with hmgs in proportion, was laboring to keep order. Every word he uttered was in a stento- rian voice which would have been painful to the pupils in a quiet room ; hence, they took care to keep up a constant clattering of books, slates, and rulers, mingled with the constant hum of their own voices, as if for self- defence. It seemed to be a mighty effort of each party to rise if possible above the noise of the other. '^ Silence ! Order ! I say,"*' was constantly ejaculated in a voice that was almost sufficient, as Shakespeare^s Hamlet would say, to '^^ split the ears of the groundlings." One of the most ludicrous scenes I ever witnessed occurred in this school during an exercise in English grammar. The class occupied the back seats, while 208 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Parsing !— A dialogue. the teacher stood by the desk in front of the school. The children between the teacher and his class were variously employed, — some manufacturing paper fly- boxes, some whittling the benches — (it was in New England) ; some were trying their skill at a spit-ball warfare ; others were making voyages of exploration beneath the seats. The school^ consisting of some seventy pupils, were as busy as the occupants of an ant- hill. The sentence to be parsed was, ^^A good boy loves study. ''^ No written description can present the scene as it was acted in real life. It should be borne in mind that every word spoken by the teacher, whether to the class or to the school, was in a tone of voice which might have been heard at least an eighth of a mile, and that every exclamation was accompanied by several energetic thumps of a large oaken "rule'' upon the lid of his desk. The language of the teacher is in italics. " Mary, parse A.'' '^ A is an indefinite " — " Silence I Order there I " — " article, and is prefixed to V — " John !'' — "No sir, it is prefixed to" — '^ Martha, Martha! sit up" — '^^it is prefixed to — boy." — ''Right. — Good, next.'' — ''Good is an ad- jective," — "Order, Order, Order!" — thump, thump, thump ! — " Go on, go on, Ihearyou !" — thump, thump ! — "and belongs to" — " Speah louder! Sit up there ! What are yoic doing? And belongs tof" — ''boy." — SCHOOL GOVERNMEN-T 209 "The Rule, sir."— A Babel.— Who made it :- ''The Rule. The Eule ! Isay."—RQYQ several chil- dren looked earnestly at the piece of timber he held in his \\ii\\&.—" The Rule, sir, the Rule ! ''—i\\\\m\^, thump !—'^ You've got it in your hand/" vociferated a little harmless-looking fellow on the front seat, while the scholar proceeded to recite the rule. — '' Adjectives h^longio"—'' Lazy, lazy fellow ! sit uj) there."— IIqvq the class smiled, and the scholar completed his rule, asserting however that ''adjectives belong to nouns/' and not to '' lazy fello2vs", as the class seemed to under- stand the master to teach. Word after word was parsed in this way, (a way of teaching our language, which, if we could know it had been practised at the erection of Babel, would sufficiently account for that memorable confusion of tongues without the intervention of a miracle,) till the teacher, nearly exhausted by this strange combination of mental, oral, and manual lahor, very much to the relief of all, vociferated, " That'll do I " and the scene was changfed. At the close of the afternoon we were told that 'Mt was a very hard school, that it was almost impossible to keep order, and that he should be discouraged were it not that he saw a manifest improvement within a few days past ! " Now this teacher made the school what it was, by his own manner. He would have done the same in any 210 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Another visit.— A new teaclier.— Good order. school. He taught in the most effectual way the science and art of confusion ; and notwithstanding the hard name he gave his school^ he was emphatically the most disorderly and noisy member of it. There was a change. On another day, accompanied by the same friend, we presented ourselves at the door of this same room for admittance. We heard no sound as we approached the entrance, and almost began to suspect we should find there was no school within. We knocked ; and presently, without our hearing the footstep of the person who approached, the door opened, and v/e passed in. The children looked up a moment as we entered, and then bent their eyes upon their lessons. The teacher softly handed us seats, and then proceeded with the recitation. His manner was quiet and deliberate, and the school was orderly and busy. He had no rule in his hand, no heavy boots on his feet, (he had exchanged them for slippers on entering the school,) and no other means of giving emphasis to his words. He kindly requested, — never commanded, — and everything seemed to present the strongest contrast with the former scene. The hour of dismission arrived and the scholars quietly laid by their books, and as quietly walked out of the house, and all was still. '*^ How have you secured this good order ? ''^ said we to the teacher. '^I really do not know/' said he with SCIiOOL GOVflliNMEKf ^it Tlie secret.— Excessive silence. a smile, ''I lijive said nothing about order." ''But have you had no difficulty with noisy scholars'' ? ''A little at first ; but in a day or two they seemed to be- come quiet, and we have not been troubled since/' IN'ow the seci-et was that this latter teacher had learned to govern himself. His own m.anner gave character to the school. So it w^ill ever be. A man will govern more by his manner than in any other way. There is, too, such a thing as keeping a school too still by over-government. A man of firm nerve can, by keeping up a constant constraint both in himself and pupils, force a deathlike silence upon his school. You may hear a pin drop at any time, and the figure of every child is as if moulded in cast iron. But, be it remembered, this is the stillness of constraint, not the stillness of activity. It is an unhealthy state both of body and mind, and when attained by the most vigilant care of the teachei", is a condition scarcely to be desired. There should be silence in school, a serene and soothing quiet ; but it should if possible be the quiet of cheer- fulness and agreeable devotion to study, rather than the ''palsy of fear". Thus far I have confined myself to those qualifica- tions in the teacher, and to those means which, under ordinary circumstances and in most districts, would in 21:3 TMEdRY AKD PliACTIcK OF TEAClIiNG Recapitulation.— Force sometimes needful.— Punisliment deli :iea. my opinion secure good order in our schools. AVitli the qualifications I have described in the mentid and moral condition of the teacher, and the means and sug- gestions above detailed — combined, I believe a very large majority of our schools could be most successfully governed without any ajopeal io feai' or force. But as some schools are yet in a very bad state, re- quiring more than ordinary talents and skill to control them ; and as very many of those who must teach for a long time to come have not and cannot be expected to have all the qualifications described, and much less the moral power insisted on, it is unreasonable to expect, taking human nature as it is, and our teachers as they are, that all can govern their schools without some appeals to the lower motives of children, and some resort to coercion as an instrumentality. I should leave this discussion very incomplete, therefore, were I not to present my views upon the subject of SECTION III — PUNISHMENTS. As a great deal has been written and spoken upon the subject of school punishments, I deem it important that the term, as I intend to use it, should be defined at the outset. I submit the following definition : Punishment is pain inflicted upon the mind or body of an individual by the authority to which SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 213 Commentsonclenaltlon.—Wlience authority is derived. HE IS SUBJECT ; WITH A VIEW EITHER TO REFORM HIM, OR TO DETER OTHERS FROM THE COMMISSION OF OF- FENCES, OR BOTH. It is deemed essential to the idea of punishment that the inflictor have legitimate authority over the subject of it, — otherwise the act is an act of usurpation. It is also essential that the inflictor should have a legitimate object in view, such as the reformation of the individual or of the community in which his example has exerted an influence, — otherwise the act becomes an abuse of power. Infliction for the purpose of retaliation for an insult or injury is not punishment; it is revenge. Whenever, therefore, a teacher resorts to such infliction to gratify his temper, or io pay off, as it is expressed in common language, the bad conduct of a pupil, without any regard to his reformation or the prevention of similar offences in the school, the pain he inflicts is not punishment ; it is cruelty. Very great importance is to be attached to the' motive in this matter ; because the same infliction upon the same individual and for the same offence, either may be just and proper pun- ishment, or it may be the most unjustifiable and re- vengeful abuse, according to the motive of the inflictor. The autliority to inflict punishment in general is either by the constitution of God or of civil society. '' The punishment of the faults and offences of children 214 THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHING Dr. Webster.— A common error.— The rioht assumed. by the parent/' says Dr. Webster, " is by virtue of the light of government with which the parent is invested by God himself." The right to punish the offences of children while at school, is by the common law vested in the teacher, as tlie representative of the parent for the time being. It is the declaration of this law as in- terpreted from time immemorial, that the teacher is in loco pai^entis — in place of the parent. Some have alleged that fear and shame, the two principles addressed by punishment, are among the lowest in our nature ; and have hence endeavored to show that punishment is always inexpedient, if not in- deed always wrong. To this I answer that both fear and shame are incorporated in our nature by God him- self ; and hence I infer they are there for a wise pur- pose. I find, moreover, that God himself, in his word and in his providence, does appeal to both of these principles ; and hence I infer that punishment in the abstract is not wrong, and after the higher motives have been addressed not altogether inexpedient. Living in a community as we do where the rigid of punishment in general is assumed by our government, and the right of teachers to punish is conceded by our laws, I do not feel called upon to establish the right by argument ; I shall assume that the teacher has the right to jmnish in the sense in whicli I have defined punish- SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 215 Plan of discussion.— Two classes. ment, — and shall therofore 2:)roceed to consider the various kinds of punishments used in our schools, and to distinguish those which are justifiable from those which are not ; and also to consider some of the con- ditions and limitations of their use. In preparing the way to do this, I may remark that punishments consist of two classes : 1. Those which address themselves directly to the mind ; as privation from privileges, loss of liberty, degradation, some act of humiliation, reproof, and the like. 2. Those which address the mind through the body ; as the imposition of a task — labor, for instance, — requiring the pupil to take some painful attitude, inflicting bodily chastise- ment, etc. I have mentioned these two classes for the purpose of calling attention to the fact that there are those v/ho approve of the first class, and at the same time denounce the second, scouting the idea of reaching the mind through the senses of the body. This seems to me, however, to indicate a want of attention to the laws of our being ; for in the economy of nature we are made at every point sensitive to pain as a means of guarding against injury. Why has the Creator studded the en- tire surface of our bodies with the extremities of nerves whose function is to carry to the brain with lightning speed the intelligence of the approach of danger ? And 21G THEORY AND PKACTICE OF TEACHING Mind may be reached tlirough the body.— Improper punishments. Avhy should this intelligence be transmitted, if its object is not to influence the will, either to withdraw the suf- fering part from immediate danger, or to avoid those objects which cause the pain ? The mind, then, by the economy of nature, or rather by the arrangement of God, is capable of being influenced through the bodily sensations ; and those who deny this, either do not ob- serve attentively, or, observing, do not reason fairly as to the laws of our being. With these preliminary observations, I now proceed to consider I. Improper Punishments. — Some punishments are always wrong, or at least always inexpedient. The infliction of them either implies a wrong feeling on the part of the teacher, or it promises no Avholesome result on the ])art of the pupil. I shall mention in detail, 1. Those that from their nature excite the feeling in the j)uinl that an indignity has heen committed against his jJerson. No man is ready to forgive another for twinging his nose. There is almost a universal senti- ment that this organ is specially exempted from such insult. Kearly the same feeling exists as to pinching or 2JuUi?ig the ear, or tivisti^ig the hair, or snapping the forehead. Each child feels that these parts of his person are not to be trifled with, and the feeling is natural and proper. Now, though it is not common for teachers to wring the noses of their pupils, it is very SCHOOL GOVERNMESTT 317 Head to be exempted from infliction, common for them to do each of the other thinors o enumerated. I have often seen such punishments, but I think I never saw any good come of them. The pupil always looked as if the teacher had done despite toward his person. Whenever I have seen the teacher twist the locks of a child^s hair about his finger till the tears would start in the eye, I have supposed the feelings called forth were anything but desirable, — anything but favorable to reformation. A pupil must love his teacher very strongly to be able to keep his temper from rising under such circumstances ; and there is great doubt whether either of these punishments does anything to secure cheerful obedience in the child one time in a hundred ; probably in ninety-nine cases in the hundred the evil passions are very much strengthened by them. Besides, these are undignified modes of pun- ishment. They savor so much of a weak and childish impatience that the pupils find it hard to respect a man, much more to love him, who will stoop to so S7iiall a way of giving vent to his angry feelings. Snapping the forehead is subject to strong physiological objec- tions ; and, as a general rule, the head and its appurten- ances should be exempted from penal violence. In this place I may very properly allude to another mode of assailing the ears of children, quite as undig- nified in itself and quite as unprofitable in its results as 218 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Scolding.— Poor investment. pulling them, — and until they lire hardened to it by familiarity, probably more painful. I refer, I need not say, to scolding. This is a punishment altogether too common. There is a physiological law that the exercise of any organ will give it greater strength and generally greater celerity. From this fact, and the additional one that the more a child is scolded the harder his heart becomes, so that here, as in the Eule of Three, '' more requires more," — it follows that those who once be- gin to scold, are fortunate if they stop short of high attainments in the art. There is no enterprise in which the investment yields so small a profit as in the business of scolding. It is really pitiable to witness the teacher given to this practice, mak- ing himself and all around him unhappy, without the hope of alleviation. The command of the tongue is a great virtue in a teacher ; and it is to be feared that very many children still suffer in their moral feelings* as well as their ears, because so many teachers do not sea- sonably learn the right control of the ''unruly member''. While upon this subject I may allude to another very objectionable mode of address practised by some * A blacksmith, it is said, wlio had been accustomed to scold his family quite too freely, was one day attempting to harden a piece of steel ; hut failing after two or three attempts, his little son, who had been an observer of this as well as other operations of his father, is said to have exclaimed : " Scoia it, fatlm\ scold it. If tliat woiVt harden it, nothing else vnll. " SCHOOL GOVERKMENT 219 Cockney blackguardism.— Examples.— Beg pardon.— Goldsmith. teachers toward their schools. I refer to a mixture of scolding with a species of low wit or cockney black- guardism^ that should ever be banished from the school- room. Such expressions as ^'Sit down^ John, or Til shiver your toj)-timber,^/'~'' Attend to your studies, or some of you will be a head sJiorter/' — ''Keep quiet, or you'll hear thunder," — and the like. To these I might add those empty and debasing threats which are too often and too thoughtlessly uttered ; as, ''1^11 skin you alive,"" or ''Til shake you to pieces," or 'Til use you up," — with others of the same character. I perhaps ought to beg pardon for placing these vulgarisms before the general reader ; but they are so frequently employed in our schools, in some of our schools of good repute too, that I thought it to be my duty to quote them, (for they are all literal quotations,) in order if possible to aid those who have fallen into such a low habit to see themselves as others see them. It is so very easy for a teacher to raise a laugh among his pupils that he is in danger of being seduced into the use of coarse and quaint expressions by the suppo- sition that they are witty. But the mirtli of school- boys is not a more reliable criterion of wit in the modern teacher .than it was in the case of the schoolmaster de- scribed by Goldsmith ; and possibly the exercise of a little discernment on his part would convince him that 220 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Prolonged tortures. children sometimes laugh, as they did of old, because they think it prudent to do so. "■ A mau severe lie was and stern to view, I knew liim Avell, and every truant knew ; Well had tlie boding- tremblers learned to trace Tbe day's disasters in liis morning face ; Full well tbey laughed, vsitU coimterfeitea glee, At all Jiisjolces, for many a joke bad be." It is unquestionably true that there are schools and many such, now of high standing, the language of whose teachers, could it be noted down and printed for the parents, would perfectly astonish tliem ; and such is the force of habit, it would very likely astonish the teachers themselves. Let all who mean to respect themselves, or who desire to be long respected by others, most carefully avoid the first approach to the use of sucli kinds of language. Its influence in school is '^^oiily evil, and that continually.^'' 2. 77ioso p?iuish}ie?ifs that from their nature imply in the inflictor a love of inolonged torture. These are quite numerous and are resorted to often for the pur- pose of avoiding what is usually deemed severe punish- ment. Some of them also have very serious physiological objections. As an instance, I may mention the holding of a weight at arm's length until the muscles of the arm become painful from over-exertion and fatigue. Some- times the Bible, being the largest book at hand, is SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 221 The Biljle at arm's lengtli.— Physiological effects.— Moral effects. chosen as the weight ; and thus that book which should have no associations connected with it in the minds of the young hut those of reverence and love, is made the instrument of torture — the minister of cruelty ! Imagine that you see — what I have seen — an offend- ing boy called to the teacher's desk, and, after words of reproach, sentenced to hold the large Bible at arm's length for a specified time, or until the teacher is will- ing to release him. At first it is raised with a smile of triumph, almost a smile of contempt. Soon the muscles thus exerted at disadvantage begin to be vreary and to relax. ''Hold it up!" exclaims the vigilant teacher ; and it is again brought to its position. Sooner than before the muscles are fatigued, and they almost refuse to obey the mandate of the will, which itself is half willing to rebel against authority so unreasonable. ''Up with it ! -" — again brings it to its place, or perhaps a stroke of the rattan repeats the command with more nrgency. At this moment every nerve sympathizes, and the muscles are urged on to their greatest effort. The limb is in agony, — and what agony can surpass that of an overstrained muscle ? — and the whole system reels and writhes with suffering. ]\"ow look into that child's face and tell me what is the moral effect of this sort of punishment ? Unless he is one of the most amiable of tlie sons of Adam, he inwardly curses the 22i THEOKY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHING? Hold a nail !— Sitting on nothing. cruelty that he thinks is delighted with pangs like these, protracted yet intolerable. He almost curses the blessed book which was given to warm his soul into life and immortality. He cries with pain, but not with penitence. He may submit, indeed, and he may abstain from sim- ilar offences in time to come ; but it is the submission of self-preservation, and the abstinence of an eye-ser- vant, — while the stain that has thus been inwrought in his moral sensibilities may long remain unexpunged. Such a punishment T unhesitatingly pronounce to be improper, whatever may be the circumstances. Akin to this are those other contrivances to give pro- longed pain which in different parts of the country have taken a variety of forms, and as great a variety of names. One of these has been termed "lioldbig a nail into the floor J' It consists in requiring the pupil to bend forward, — and, placing the end of a single finger upon the head of a nail, to remain in that position till the whole system is agonized. Another has by some of] its inflictors been termed '^sitting on nothing"', Thej pupil is required to place his back against a wall of the' room, and his feet perhaps a foot from its base, and; then to slide his body down till the knees are bent ati right angles, and his person is in a sitting posture with- out a seat ! The muscles, acting over the knee at thai greatest disadvantage, are now made to support thej aCIIOOL GOVERNMENT 223 On worse than notliing.— Ridicule. body in that position during the pleasure of the teacher. I have seen another mode of punishment practised, and as I have heard no name for it I shall give it the cog- nomen of ^'^ sitting on 2vorse than nothing/^ The boy in this case was required to sit upon the floor, and then, placing the feet upon a bench or chair, to support the body in an erect position by reversed action of the muscles ! But I gladly turn away from a description of the punishments I have witnessed in the common schools of New England within a quarter of a century, ex- hibiting as they do so many characteristics of the dark ages. Some of these I have witnessed quite recently ; and to what extent any or all of them are now in use, I am unable to say. I only desire to say, that they are all improper, — debasing to the morals of the pupils, and degrading to the profession of the teacher ; and the sooner such punishments are entirely banished from our school-rooms, the sooner will the profession of the teacher rise to its proper level. 3. Ridicule. This is a weapon that should not be wielded as a school-punishment. It often cuts deeper than he who uses it imagines ; and it usually gives most pain where it is least merited. Some pliysical defect, or some mental incapacity, or eccentricit}^ is most fre- quently made the subject of it ; and yet nothing can be 224: TIIEOliY AKJ> PRACTICE OF TEACHI^a Why objectlonaWe.— Loss of love— of cor.flclence. more unfeeling or more unjust than its use in such cases. If the designed failings of the indolent, or the premeditated mischief of the vicious, could be subjected to its influence, its use would be more allowable, — but even then it would be questionable. But the indolent and vicious are usually unaffected by ridicule. They sin upon calculation, and not without counting the cost ; and they are therefore very willing to risk their reputation where they have so little to lose. It is the modest, the conscientious, the well-meaning child, that is most affected by ridicule ; yet it is such a one that, for various reasons, is oftenest made the subject of it, though above all others his feelings should be most ten- derly spared. A strong objection to the use of ridicule is the feeling which it induces between the teacher and pupil. The teacher, conscious that he has injured the feelings of the child, will find it hard to love him afterwards ; for we sel- dom love those whom we have injured. The child, on the other hand, loses confidence in his teacher ; he feels that his sensibilities have been outraged before his com- panions, and that the teacher, who should be his best friend in the school, has invited the heartless laugh of his fellow-pupils against him. With the want of love on the one hand, and of confidence on the other, what further usefulness can reasonably be expected ? SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 225 School-mates injured.— Hiss.— Little Mary.— A scene. But the strongest objection of all to the use of ridicule is the fact that it calls forth the worst of feelings in the school. Those who participate in the laugh thus ex- cited are under the influence of no very amiable motives. And when this is carried so far as to invite, by direct words, some expression from the schoolmates, by point- ing the finger of shame, and perhaps accompanying the act by a hiss of scorn, the most deplorable spirit of self-righteousness is cultivated. Little Mary one day was detected in a wrong act by her teacher. " Mary, come here," said the teacher, sternly. Little thinking she had been seen she obeyed promptly, and stood by the chair of her teacher, who, without giving Mary time to reflect, and thus allow the conscience opportunity to gain the mastery, immediately asked, '^ What naughty thing did I see you do just now?" ''Nothing," said Mary, partly disposed to justify herself, and partly doubting whether indeed the teacher had seen her do anything wrong. " Oh, Mary, Mary, who would think you would tell me a lie ! Did you ever hear of Ananias and Sapphira ? " Here a lecture followed on the sin and danger of lying, and particularly the danger of sudden death by the ven- geance of God. Mary began to tremble, and then to weep, probably from terror. Now came the second part. '^ I should think you would be ashamed to be 226 THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHING Self-rigliteousness.— Defiance.— Freezing tlie affections. known to lie. All the children now know that you have lied. I should think they would feel ashamed of such a naughty little girl in the school. I should not wonder/' she continued, ^'if all the little girls and boys sJiould point their fingers at you and hiss.'' In an in- stant all the children who were not too old to be disgusted with the management and tone of the teacher pointed their fingers and uttered a long succession of hisses, while their faces beamed with all the complacency of self-righteousness, triumphing over the fall of a companion, who perhaps was after aTl as good and as truthful a child as any of them. The poor child at first turned her back upon them ; but soon, feeling that her reputation was gone, she turned, as woman ever will when her self-respect is blighted, with a look of indifference, almost a look of defiance. Fear was first swallowed up in shame, and shame gave place to reck- less audacity. The whole scene was rendered still more ruinous to the child from the fact that it took place in the presence of visitors ! When will our teachers learn the human heart well enough to be able to distinguish between a work of de- vastation and of true culture ; between a process of blighting the sensibilities, searing the conscience, freezing up the fountains of sympathy and of mutual love and confidence, — and a course of training which SCHOOL GOVEllKMENT ^2T Let teachers think.— Proper punishments.— Repoof in private. warms the conscience into activity, inculcates the reverence and love of God, instead' of a slavish fear of his power, and instils into the soul a desire to do right, rather than to do that which will avoid the reproach of an unfeeling multitude, more wicked than those they censure ? Goldsmith has shown that woman may ''stoop to conquer''; but the above narrative shows how she may stoop, not to conquer, but to lay waste the youthful heart. These punishments, and such as these, which I have classed under the list of wij^roj^er punishments, should all be carefully considered by the teacher. They should be considered before he enters his school. It would be well always for him to determine before- hand what punishments he will not use. It may save him many a serious mistake. I have written what I have under this head in order to put teachers upon thought ; believing that men seldom earnestly and honestly inquire, without arriving at the truth in the end. II. Proper Punishments.— Evei-y teacher's mind should, if possible, be settled as to what punishments are proper, so that when they are inflicted, it can be done in good faith and with an honest conviction of the performance of duty. Among the proper pun- ishments, I may mention : 1. Kind Reproof. This will probably be conceded 22S THEORY AKJ> PRACTICE OF TEACHlKa Loss of privileges, consequent upon abuse. by all. I say kind reproof, because no other reproof can be useful. I would distinguish it from reproach. Reproof, judiciously administered, is one of the most effectual punishments that can be used. As a general rule this is best administered privately. The child's spirit of obstinacy is very likely to exhibit itself in the presence of his fellows ; but in private the conscience is free to act, and the child very readily submits. It is always perfectly safe to reprove privately ; that is, not in the presence of the school. The child has no motive to misrepresent the teacher ; and if the teacher so far spares the reputation of the pupil as to take him by himself, this very circumstance will often give the teacher access to his better feelings. 2. Loss of Privileges, By abuse of privileges we forfeit them. This is a law of Providence. It is un- questionably proper that this should be a law of our schools. All those offences, therefore, against propriety in the exercise of any privilege may be attended with a temporary or permanent deprivation of such privilege. A pupil who is boisterous at the recess, disturbing the quiet of the school or impeding the enjoyment of his playfellows, may be deprived of the recess. A child who disfigures his seat with his knife may be deprived of his'finife', and so for any other similar offence. Some consider it proper to extend this punishment to SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 229 Conflnement.— Not In a dark room. other classes of offences, as, for example, whispering or idleness. While I would not deny the right or the propriety of doing so, I should think it more expedient not thus to extend it. It is well, as far as it can be done, so to punish the child that he shall see that his conduct naturally leads to its punishment as a conse- quence. And it is moreover very probable that in most schools there will be demand enough for this punish- ment, in its natural application, without extending it to other cases. 3. Restraint, or confinement. When liberty is abused a scliolar may be put under restraint. When duty is violated and the rights of others are wantonly disregarded, confinement will afl'ord time for reflection, and at the same time relieve others from the annoyance and detriment of evil example. Such restraint is often a wholesome discipline ; and confinement, if it be not too far protracted, is always safe. It should be re- marked, however, that confinement in a dark apart- ment should never be resorted to by any teacher. There are insuperable objections to it, growing out of the fears which many children early entertain of being alone in the dark, as also the fact that light as well as air is necessary to tlie vigorous action of the nervous system during the waking hours, especially ii> the day- time. It is well known that a child shut up in a dark 230 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHIN-G Why not ?— Humiliation.— Seldom. room even iii the warmth of summer speedily under- goes a depression of temperature ; and if the confine- ment is nnduly protracted, cold chills come over the system. For these reasons, and others, if confinement is ever nsed as a punishment, it should be in a room properly lighted and heated. Our prisoners enjoy, as far as may be, both of these favors. 4. H^imiliaiion. This should be resorted to with great caution. When a fault has been openly committed, and attended with circumstances of peculiar obstinacy, it may sometimes very properly be required of the offender that he should confess the fault in a manner as public as its commission. This may be due to the school. Sometimes when an offensive act is very strongly marked, a confession and a request for the for- giveness of the teacher or the individual injured may be made a condition of restoration to favor. This is usually considered a very proper punishment. I would however suggest that it be used with great care, and never unless the circumstances imperatively demand it. It may be the means of cultivating the grossest hypocrisy, or of inducing open rebellion ; and it some- times gives the other pupils an advantage over the culprit which may do liim personally much harm. The teacher should be convinced that this is the best thing he can do before he resorts to it. SCHOOL GOVERiq^MEKT 231 A task.— When and how. 5. The imposition of a tash. In every school there is more or less work to be done ; sncli as sweeping the floors, washing the benches, preparing the fuel, and making the fires. Unless objection should be made by parents, this is one of the most effectual punish- ments, especially in cities and large villages, where work is a burden, and the attractions of play are most powerful. Some difficult schools have been governed for months with no other punishment than labor thus imposed. Tlie plan is, that if two boys neglect their studies so as to attract the attention of the teacher, they shall be nominated as members of the committee on sweeping, — a duty to be performed after school hours. If one or two more are decidedly disorderly, they shall be required to make fires, bring up wood, or perhaps wash a certain portion of the room. This is always assigned pleasantly by the teacher, with the understanding, however, that any failure to do the allotted work thoroughly and faithfully, will be attended with a reappointment till the object is secured. If parents should object to this it is not absolutely essential to the teacher's success ; but where no objec- tion is made, if judiciously managed, it may do very much in many of our schools towards producing that quiet order which otherwise it might require more cogent and less agreeable means to secure. 232 THEORY AND PKACTICE OF TEACHING An objection.— Answer.— Not strongly urged.— The rod. It has sometimes been urged as an objection to this mode of punishment, that it would tend to attach the idea of disgrace to useful labor. It is con- ceived that this is by no means the necessary conse- quence. On the other hand it would serve to teach the difference there always is between a duty im- posed and one voluntarily undertaken. The same objection would apply to our prison discipline, where a man by a wilful disregard of law and the rights of others very justly forfeits his services for a time to the State. I would not lay very much stress upon this mode of punishment, though I have known it resorted to under favorable circumstances with very good effect. It would of course be more effectual in a large town or city than in the country, where boys are in the habit of laboring at home, and would be quite as willing to labor after regular hours at school. 6. Actual chastisement ivith the rod of correction. I have no hesitation (though others have) in placing this among the class of proper punishments. As this in- volves a great question on the subject of school govern- ment, and one that is debated with great zeal and warmth in almost every educational meeting that is held, I shall feel justified in giving a little more space to the consideration of it. SCHOOL GOVERi^MP:NT 233 Corporal punishment.— Views of others.— Nothing to conceal. SECTION" IV— CORPORAL PUNISHMENT I am aware that when I enter this field I am treading on ground every inch of which has been disputed. I come to the task of wiitiug on this subject, however, I think, without prejudice or asj^erity. Having nothing to conceal, I shall express my own views honestly and frankly, — views which I entertain after diligently seek- ing the truth for some twenty years, during which time I have listened to a great deal of discussion, and have read carefully and candidly whatever has been Avritten by others. Nor do I expect to give universal satisfac- tion. There are strong men, and I believe honest men, who run to the opposite extremes in their doctrine and practice, and who defend the one course or the other as if the existence of the world depended upon the issue. There are those who not only claim the right to chas- tise, but who insist that whipping should be the first resort of the teacher in establishing his authority ; and to show that this is not a dormant article of their faith, they daily and almost hourly demonstrate their efficiency in the use of the rod, so that their pupils may be living witnesses that they act in accordance with their creed. Again, there are others who as earnestly deny the right of the teacher to resort to the rod at all. 234 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Men see differeaitly.— A pnvileg-e claimed.— Authority at any rate. and who urge with all their power the efBcacy of moral suasion to subdue and control the vicious and the stub- born in our schools ; and who are ready to assert unequivocally that no man is fit to be employed to teach the young who has not the ability to govern all the various dispositions he may meet in any school, without the use of corporal punishment. I have no disposition to question the sincerity and honesty of each of these classes, knowing as I do that different men see with different eyes, even when the circumstances are the same ; much more when their circumstances are widely diverse. I have no bitterness of language to apply to those who go to the extreme of severity ; nor any sneer to bestow upon the name of ^^moral-suasionist ". But while I accord to other men the right of expressing their own opinions, I claim the same privilege for myself, — yet without wishing to obtrude my opinions upon other men any further than they will bear the test of reason and experience. It is agreed on all hands tliat the teacher must estab- lish authority in some way, hefore he can ])ursue suc- cessfully the objects of his school. I have described the qualifications which the teacher should possess in order to govern well, and I have also given some of the means of securing good order without a resort to severity. Probably in a large majority of our schools the teacher SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 235 We must take tlie world as it is.— Mr. Mann quoted. with these qualifictitioiis and the employment of these means, couki succeed in establishing and maintaining good order without any such resort. This should, in my opinion, always be done, if possible, — and no one will rejoice more than myself to see the day, should that day ever come, when teachers shall be so much improved as to be able to do this universally. But in writing on this subject it is the dictate of common sense to take human nature as it is and human teachers as they are, and as many of them must be for some time to come, — and adapt our directions to the circum- stances. Human nature, as it is exhibited in our children, is far from being perfect ; and I am sorry to say that the parents of our children often exhibit it in a still less flattering light. Perhaps no language of mine can so well represent the concurrence of circum- stances making corporal punishment necessary in our schools as it has been done by the Hon. Horace Mann in his lecture on " School Punishments^'. '^'^The first point," says he, ^^ which I shall consider, is, whether corporal punishment is ever necessary in our schools. As preliminary to a decision of this question, let us take a brief survey of facts. We have in this Common- wealth, [Massachusetts,] above one hundred and ninety- two thousand children between the ages of four and sixteen years. All these children are not only legally 236 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Difficulties to he met,— in children,— in parents. entitled to attend our public schools, but it is our great desire to increase that attendance, and he who increases it is regarded a reformer. All that portion of these children who attend school, enter it from that vast variety of homes which exist in the State. From differ- ent households, where the wildest diversity of parental and domestic influences prevails, the children enter the schoolroom, where there must be comparative uniform- ity. At home some of these children have been indulged in every wish, flattered and smiled upon for the energies of their low propensities, and even their freaks and whims enacted into household laws. Some have been so rigorously debarred from every innocent amusement and indulgence, that they have opened for themselves a way to gratification through artifice and treachery and falsehood. Others from vicious parental exami3le, and the corrupting .influences of vile associates, have been trained to bad habits and contaminated with vicious principles ever since they were oorn ; — some being taught that honor consists in whipping a boy larger than themselves ; others that the chief end of man is to own a box that cannot be opened, and to get money enough to fill it ; and others again have been taught upon their father^s knees to shape their young lips to the utterance of oaths and blasphemy. Now all these dispositions, which do not conflict with right more than SCHOOL GOVERKMENT 237 A dilemma. they do with each other, as soon as they cross the threshokl of the schoolroom, from the different worlds, as it were, of homes, must be made to obey the same general regulations, to pursue the same studies, and to aim at the same results. In addition to these artificial varieties, there are natural differences of temperament and disposition. " Again ; there are about three thousand public schools in the State, in which are employed in the course of the year about five thousand different per- sons, as teachers, including both males and females. Excepting a very few cases, these five thousand persons have had no special preparation or training for their employment, and many of them are young and without experience. These five thousand teachers, then, so many of whom are unprepared, are to be placed in au- thority over the one hundred and ninety-two thousand children, so many of whom have been perverted. With- out passing through any transition state for improve- ment, these parties meet each other in the schoolroom, where mutiny and insubordination and disobedience are to be repressed, order maintained, knowledge ac- quired. He, therefore, who denies the necessity of resorting to punishment in our schools, — and to cor- poral punishment, too, — virtually affirms twothings : — first, that this great number of children, scooped up ^3^ THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHINO Neither horn to be chosen.— A miracle. from all places, taken at all ages and in all conditions, can be deterred from the wrong and attracted to the right without punishment ; and secondly, he asserts that the five thousand persons whom the towns and districts employ to keep their I'espective schools, are now, and in the present condition of things, able to ac- complish so glorious a work. Neither of these propo- sitions am I at present prepared to admit. If there are extraordinary individuals — and we know there are such — so singularly gifted with talent and resources and with the divine quality of love, that they can win the affection, and, by controlling the heart, can control the conduct of children who for years have been addicted to lie, to cheat, to swear, to steal, to fight, still I do not believe there are now five thousand such indi- viduals in the State whose heavenly services can be obtained for this transforming work. And it is useless, or worse than useless to say, that such or such a thing can be done, and done immediately, without pointing out the agents by whom it can be done. One who affirms that a thing can be done, without any reference to the persons who can do it, must be thinking of miracles. If the position were that children may be so educated from their birth, and teachers may be so trained for their calling as to supersede the necessity of corporal punishment, except in cases decidedly SCHOOL GOVERKMEKT SS'S Divisions in district.— East end.— West end.— "We will see." monstrous, then I should have no doubt of its truth ; but such a position must have reference to some future period, which wc should strive to hasten, but ought not to anticipate/^ Aside from the causes demanding punishment, so ably portrayed in the passage just quoted, there is still another, growing out of divisions and quarrels in the district. It is by no means uncommon, in our districts, owing to some local matter, or to some disunion in politics or religion, for the people to be arrayed, the one part against the other. The inhabitants of the upper road are jealous of the dwellers on the lower road ; the liill portion of the district is aggrieved by the influence of the valley portion ; the " east end " com- plains of the selfishnesG of the '^^west end^^, and so of the north and south. Whenever a school-house is to be built, these different interests are aroused and a protracted and baleful quarrel is the result. One party ^^ carries the day '' by the force of numbers, but the prosperity of the school is impaired for years. At every district meeting there will be the same strife for the mastery. If one division gains the power, the other bends its energies to cripple the school and to annoy the teacher who may be employed by the dominant party, however excellent or deserving he may be. " We will see," say those who find themselves in the minority, 240 THEORY AKJ3 PRACTICE OF TEACHIKG Disobedience encom-aged.— Tlie teaclier's course. 'Sve will see whether this man can keep our school as well as it was done last year by our master/' This is uttered in presence of their children — perhaps their half-grown sons, who will bo very ready to meet their new teacher with prejudice and to act out the mis- givings of their parents as to his success. When the teacher first enters the school, he is met by oppo- sition even before he has time to make an impression for good ; opposition which he can scarcely hope to surmount as long as it is thus encouraged at homo. Now what shall he do ? Shall he yield the point, abandon the idea of authority, and endeavor to live along from day to day in the hope of a more comfort- able state of things by-and-by ? He may bo suro that matters will daily grow worse. Shall ho give up in despair, and leave the school to some successor ? This will only strengthen the opposition and make it more violent when the successor shall bo appointed. It is but putting the difficulty one step farther off. Besides, if the teacher does thus give up and leave the school he loses his own reputation as a man of energy, and, in the eyes of the world, who perhaps may not know — or care to know — all the circumstances, he is held over after as incompetent for the office. Now it would be very gratifying if the teacher under any or all of these difficulties, could possess the moral SCHOOL GOVPJRN-MEKT 241 Shall he yield ? iVo, no.— Establish authority. power to quell them all by a look or by the exercise of his ingenuity in interesting his pupils in their studies. Undoubtedly there are some men who could do it, and do it most triumphantly, so as to make their most zealous enemies in a few days their warmest friends. But there are not many who can work thus at disad- vantage. What then shall be done ? Shall the school be injured by being disbanded, and the teacher be stigmatized for a failure, when he has been employed in good faith ? I say no. He has the right to establish authority hy corporal infliction ; and thus to save the school and also save himself. And more than this ; — if there is reasonable ground to believe that by such in- fliction he can establish order, and thus make himself useful, and save the time and the character of the school, he not only has the right, but he is hound by duty to use it. The lovers of order in the district have a right to expect him to use it, unless by express stipula- tion beforehand they have exempted him from it. I repeat, then, that it is the teacher's duty to establish authority ; ^'^ peaceably, indeed, if he may, — forcibly if he must". I ought in fairness here to add, as I have before hinted, that not unfrequently the necessity for corporal infliction exists in the teacher himself. This is often proved by a transfer of teachers. One man takes a 242 THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHIKG Daily flogging condemned. school and can only survive liis term by the exercise of whipping. He is followed by another who secures good order and the love of the school without any resort to the rod. The first dechired that whipping was neces- sary in his case to secure good order^ and truly ; but the necessity resided in him and not in the school. So it often does^ — and while teachers are zealously defend- ing the rod, they should also feel the necessity of im- proving themselves as the most effectual way to obviate its frequent use. When authority is once established in a school it is comparatively easy to maintain it. There will of course be less necessity for resorting to the rod after the teacher has obtained the ascendency, unless it be in the event of taking some new pupil into the school who is dis- posed to be refractory. I have but little respect for the teacher who is daily obliged to fortify his authority by corporal infliction. Something must be fundamentally wrong in the teacher whose machinery of government, when once well in motion, needs to be so often forcibly wound up. From what has already been said it will be seen that I do not belong to the number who affirm that the rod of correction should never he used in schools. Nor am I prepared to ai^yist^ ^ny teacher to iniblish beforehand that he will not punish with the rod. It would always SCHOOL GOVERJSMEi^T 'M'S Say notliiiig about it.— Tliere is au arm of power.— Proposed substitutes. be wiser for the teacher to say nothing about it. Very little good ever comes of threatening the use of it. Threatening of any sort avails but little. A teacher may enter a school with the determination to govern it if possible without force. Indeed I should advise one always to make this determination in his own mind. But whenever such a determination is published, the probability of success is very much diminished. The true way and the safe way, in my opinion, is to rely mainly on moral means for the government of the school, — to use the rod without much threatening, if driven to it by the force of circumstances ; and as soon as authority is established, to allow it again to slumber with the tacit understanding that it can be again awakened from its repose if found necessary. The knowledge in the school that there is au arm of power, may prevent any necessity of an appeal to it ; and such a knowledge can do no possible harm in itself. But if the teacher has once pledged himself to the school that he will never use the rod, the necessity may soon come for him to abandon his position or lose his influence over the pupils. As much has been said against the use of the rod in any case in school government, it may be proper to consider briefly some of the sub'stifutes for it which have been suggested by its opposers. ^44 Meoky AKi> PRACTICE oE Teaching Solitary conflnement.— Its futility. Some have urged solitary confinement. This might do in some cases. Undoubtedly an opportunity for reflection is of great use to a vicious boy. But then how inadequate are the means for this kind of dis- cipline in our schools. Most of our school-houses have but one room. In such cases solitary confinement is out of the question. In other instances there may be (as there always should be) a room, not constantly de- voted to the purposes of the school. Here a pupil could be confined ; and I have no objection whatever to this coarse, provided the room is not a dark one, and its temperature can be comfortable. But even with this facility confinement cannot be relied on as the only puiiishment, because if offences should multiply and the offenders should all be sent to the same place, then confinement would soon cease to be solitary ! x\nd suppose some philanthropist should devise a plan of a school-house with several cells for the accommoda- tion of offenders ; still this punishment would fail of its purpose. The teacher has no power to confine a pupil much beyond the limit of school hours. This the obstinate child would understand, and he would therefore resolve to hold out till he must be dismissed, and then he would bo the triumphant party. He could boast to ihis fellows that he had borne the punish- ment, and that without submission or promise for the SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 245 Parental folly.— Expulsion.— Not expedient.— Why ? future he had been excused because his time had expired. This substitute is often urged by jmrents who have tried it successfully in case of their own children in their own houses, where it was known that it could of course be protracted to any necessary length. Be- sides, if the confinement alone was not sufficient, the daily allowance of food could be withheld. Under such circumstances it may be very effectual, as un- doubtedly it often has been ; but he is a very shallow parent who, having tried this experiment upon a single child, with all the facilities of a parent, prescribes it with the expectation of equal success in the govern- ment of a large school. Others have urged the exjmlsion of such scholars as are disohediejit. To this it may be replied that it is nob quite certain, under existing laws, whether the teacher has the right to expel a scholar from the com- mon schools ; and some deny even the right of the school officers to do it. Whether the right exists or not, it is very questionable whether it is ever expedient to expel a scholar for vicious conduct ; and especially in cases where there is physical power to control him. The vicious and ignorant scholar is the very one who most needs the reforming influence of a good educa- tion. Sent away from the fountai'ri(5f "knowledge and virtue at this — the very time of need — and what may 246 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Mr. Maun quoted. we expect for him but utter ruin ? Such a pupil most of all needs the restraint and the instruction of a teacher who is capable of exercising the one and afford- ing the other. But suppose he is dismissed, is there any reason to hope that this step will improve the culprit himself or better the condition of the school ? Will he not go on to establish himself in vice, unrestrained by any good influence, and at last become a suitable subject for the severity of the laws, an inmate of our prisons, and perhaps a miserable expiator of his own crimes upon the gallows ? How many youth — and youth worth saving, too — have been thus cast out perversely to pro- cure their own ruin, at the very time when they might have been saved by sufficient energy and benevolence, no mortal tongue can tell ! Nor is the school itself usually benefited by this measure. ^' For all purposes of evil,^' Mr. Mann justly remarks, ^' he continues in the midst of the very children from among whom he was cast out ; and when he associates with them out of school, there is no one present to abate or neutralize his vicious influences. If the expelled pupil be driven from the district where he belongs into another, in order to prevent his contamination at home, what bet- ter can be expected of the place to which he is sent than a reciprocation of the deed, by their sending one SCHOOL GOVEKHMEAT 247 " Free trade."— A creed, and its basis.— Tlie Scriptures. of their outcasts to supply his place ; and thus opening a commerce of evil upon free-trade principles. Kothing is gained while the evil purpose remains in the heart. Reformation is the great desidei'atum ; and can any lover of his country hesitate between the alteimative of forcible subjugation and victorious contumacy ?" From all that has been said it will be seen that I do not hesitate to teach that corporal injliction is one of the justifiable means of estaUisldng authority in the schoolroo7n. To this conclusion I have come, after a careful consideration of the subject, modified by the varied experience of nearly twenty years, and by a somewhat attentive observation of the workings of all the plans which have been devised to avoid its use or to supply its place. And although I do not understand the Scriptures, and particularly the writings of Solo- mon, to recommend a too frequent and ill-considered use of it, I do not find anything in the letter or spirit of Christianity inconsistent with its proper application. It is the abuse, and not the use of the rod, against which our better feeling, as well as the spirit of Christianity, revolts. It is the abiise of the rod, or i-atlier the abuse of children under the infliction of the rod, tliat first called forth the discussion referred to and awakened the general opposition to its use. I am ,free to admit there has been an egregious abuse in this matter, and 248 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Limitations.— The best tiling-.— Never in anger. that to this day it is unabated in many of our schools. I admit, too, that abuse very naturally accompanies the use of the rod, and that very great caution is necessary in those who resort to it, lest they pervert it. I feel called upon therefore before leaving this subject to throw out for the consideration of the young teacher particularly a few hints to regulate the infliction of chastisement, under the head of SECTION y — LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 1. The teacher should be thoroughly convinced that the rod is tlie best tiling for the specific case before he determines to use it. Nor should he hastily or capri- ciously come to this conviction. He should carefully and patiently try other means first. He should study the disposition of the offender and learn the tendencies of his mind ; and only after careful deliberation should he suffer himself to decide to use this mode of punish- ment. In order that the punishment should be salutary, the scholar should ^olainly see that the teacher resorts to it fi'om deep principle, from the full belief that under all the circumstances it is the best thing that can be done. 2. The teacher should never be under the excitement of angry passio7i when inflicting the punishment. This is of the utmost importance. Most of the abuses before spoken of grow out of a violation of this fun- SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 249 The young Shaker.— Public opinion.— In presence of the school. damental rule. A teacher should never strike for pun- ishment till he is perfectly self-possessed and entirely free from the bitterness which perhaps tinctured his mind when he discovered the offence. It was a wise remark of a young Shaker teacher that '' no teacher should strike a child till he could "hold Ms arm ". So long as the child discovers that the teacher is under the influence of passion, and that his lip trembles with pent-up rage, and his blood flows into his face as if driven by inward fires of wrath, he looks upon him, not as his friend seek- ing his welfare, but as his enemy indulging in persecu- tion. This will call forth the evil passions of the child, and while he bears the pain he feels no real penitence ; and very likely in the midst of his suffering he resolves to go and do the same again out of mere spite. It is moreover of great consequence in the infliction of a punishment that the teacher should be fully sus- tained by the public opinion of the school. He can never expect this when he loses his self-control. If the pupils see that he is angry, they almost instinctively sympathize with the weaker party, and tliey associate the idea of injustice with the action of the stronger. A punishment can scarcely be of any good tendency inflicted under such circumstances. 3. Corporal punishment, as a general v\\\q, should he inflicted in presence of the school. I have before advised 250 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Reasons for It. that reproof should be given in private, and assigned reasons for it which were perhaps satisfactory to the reader. But in case of corporal punishment the offence is of a more public and probably of a more serious nature. If inflicted in private it will still be known to the school, and therefore the reputation of the scholar is not saved. If inflicted in the proper spirit by the teacher and for proper cause, it always produces a salutary effect upon the school. But a still stronger reason for making the infliction public is, that it puts it beyond the power of the pupil to misrepresent the teacher, as he is strongly tempted to do if he is alone. He may mistake the degree of severity, and misrepresent the manner of the teacher ; and, without witnesses, the teacher is at the mercy of his reports. Sometimes he may ridicule the punishment to his comrades, and lead them to believe that a private in- fliction is but a small matter ; again he may exag- gerate it to his parents, and charge the teacher most unjustly with unprincipled cruelty. Under these cir- cumstances I am of the opinion that the safest and most effectual way is to do this work in the presence of the school. An honest teacher needs not fear the light of day ; and if he has the right spirit he needs not fear the effect upon his other pupils. It is only the violent, angry punishment that needs to be concealed from the SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 251 Punishment delayed.— The instrument.— Punishment effectual. j^enenil eve, and that we have condemned as improper £3 at any rate. 4. Punishment may sometimes he delayed; and al- ways delayed till all anger has subsided in the teacher. It is often best for all concerned to defer an infliction for a day or more. This gives the teacher an opportunity in his cooler moments to determine more justly the degree of severity to be used. It will also give the culprit time to reflect upon the nature of his offence and the degree of punishment he deserves. I may say that it is generally wise for the teacher, after promising a punishment, to take some time to consider what it shall be, whether a corporal infliction or some milder treatment. If, after due and careful reflection, he comes conscientiously to the conclusion that bodily pain is the best thing, — while he will be better prepared to inflict, the pupil, by similar reflection, will be better prepared to receive it and profit by it. 5. J proper instrument should be used and a ^jro/^er mode of infliction adopted. No heavy and hurtful weapon should be employed. A light rule for the hand, or a rod for the back or lower extremities, may be pre- ferred. Great care should be exercised to avoid injuring any of the joints in the infliction ; and on no account should a blow be given upon the Ikd^l' '• 6. If possible, the punishment should be made effectual. 252 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Deliberation, and tliorougli worlc. A punishment that does not produce thorough submis- sion and penitence in the subject of it^ can hardly be said to answer its main design. To be sure, in cases of general insubordination in the school, I have said that punishment may be applied to one, having in view the deterring of others from similar offences. But such exemplary punishment belongs to extreme cases, while cl'isci2)Unary punishment, which has mainly for its ob- ject the reformation of the individual upon whom it is inflicted, should be most relied on. Taking either view of the case it should if possible answer its design, or it would be better not to attempt it. The teacher's judg- ment, therefore, should be very carefully exercised in the matter, and all his knowledge of human nature should be called into requisition. If after careful and consci- entious deliberation he comes to the conclusion that the infliction of pain is the best thing, and to the belief that he can so inflict it as to show himself to the school and to the child, in this act as in all others, a true and kind friend to the child, — then he is justified in making the attempt ; and having considerately undertaken the case, it should be so thorough as not soon to need repetition. I would here take the opportunity to censure the practice of those 'te.^chers who punish every little de- parture from duty with some trifling appliance of the SCHOOL GOVEllXMEXT 253 Little whippings.'"— Hovv^ to discuss tliis sul;ject. rod, wliich the scholar forgets almost as soon as the smarting ceases. Some instructors carry about with them a rattan or stick in order to have it ready for appliance as soon as they see any departure from their commands. The consequence is they soon come to a frequent and inconsiderate use of it, and the pupils by habit become familiar with it, and of course cease to respect tlieir teacher or to dread his punishments. I have seen so much of this that whenever I sec a teacher thus ''armed and eqiiipped'\ I infer at once that his school is a disorderly one, an inference almost invariably confirmed by a few minutes^ observation. My eai-nest advice to all young teachers w^ould be, next to the habit of scolding incessantly, avoid the habit of resortirig to the rod on every slight occasion. When that instrument is not demanded for some special exigency, some great occasion and some high purpose, allow it to slumber in a i^rivate corner of your desk, not again to be called into activity till some moral convulsion shall disturb its quiet repose. I have a single caution to give in regard to the dis- cussion of this subject, which in all our educational gatherings occupies so much time and talent. It is this : — Do not adopt a general principle from too feiu inductions. There is an old proverb that declares, ''One swallow does not make a summer/* Young 254 THEOIiY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Experience cf very young- men.— Resolutions. teachers are very prone to rely on the experience of a single term. If they have kept one term without cor- poral punishment, they ai-e very likely to instruct their seniors with their experiejice ; and if they have happened to be so situated as to be compelled to save themselves by the rod, why then too their experience forever settles the question. It requires the experience of more than 07ie, or hvo, or three schools, to enable a man to speak dogmatically on this subject ; and I always smile when I hear men, and sometimes very young men, who have never kept school in their lives, perhaps, or at most but a single term, speaking as with the voice of authority. Experience is indeed one of our safest guides in this as in every other matter; but they who tell their ex- perience should at least wait till they have that which is worthy to he told. nere is another point. It is quite fashionable at the present day, whenever this subject is to be discussed, to propose the matter in the form of n resoltitio7i ; as, " Resolved, that no person is fit to be employed as a teacher who cannot govern his scholars by holier means than bodily chastisement; " or, '' Eesolved, that no limit should be set to the teacher's right to use the ^rod of correction', and that they who denounce the teachers for resorting to it are unworthy of our confidence in matters of education. " Now whoever presents the SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 255 A false position.— French resolution. question in this form assumes that he has drawn a line through the very core of the truth ; and he undertakes to censure all those who are unwilling to square their opinions by the line thus drawn. In the discussion a man must take one side or the other of the question as it is proposed, and consequently he may take a false position. The better way would be to present the whole subject as matter of free remark, and thus leave every one to present his own views honestly as they Ue in his own mind. In this way no one is pledged to this or that party, but is left unprejudiced to discover and embrace the truth wherever it is found It should moreover be remembered that resolving by the vote of a meeting in order to force inihlic opinion can never affect the truth. A few impious, heaven- daring men in France, at one of their revels, once resolved, ''There is no God!" — but did this blas- phemous breath efface the impress of Deity on all this fair creation of his power ? And when they rose from their vile debauch and sought with tottering step to leave the scene of madness and to court the dim forget- fulness of sleep, — rolled not the shining orbs in heaven^s high arch above them as much in duty to His will, as when they sang together to usher in creation's morning ? So it will ever be. Men may declare and resolve as they please ; but truth is eternal and unchangeable ; ^5(i TllKOIiY ANJ) PKACTICE OF TEACHING A more excellent way.— Higher motives first. and they are the wisest men who modestly seek to find her as she is, and not as their perverted imaginations would presume to paint her. Yet after all, in the government of schools, there is a more excellent way. There are usually easier avenues to the heart than that which is found through the in- teguments of the body. Happy is that teacher who is so skilful as to find them ; and gladly would I w^elcome the day when the number of such skilful and devoted teachers should render any further defence of the rod superfluous. Although I believe that day has not yet arrived, still in the meantime I most earnestly urge all teachers to strive to reach the higher motives and the finer feelings of the young, and to rely mainly for success, not upon appeals to fear and force, but upon the power of conscience and the law of reciprocal affection. As I have placed the higher motives and the more desirable means first in order in these remarks on government, so I would always have them first and perseveringly employed by the teacher ; and if by earn- estness in his work, by unfeigned love for the young, by diligence in the study of their natures and the adapt- ation of means to ends which true benevolence is sure to suggest, he can govern successfully without corporal SCHOOL CtOTERNMEKT 257 Minimum the maximum ! punishment — as in a large proportion of cases I believe it can be done — none will rejoice more than I at such a desirable result ; and I most cordially subscribe to the principle so happily stated by another, that in the government of schools, if thorough obedience be but secured and order maintained, other things being equal, ''The minimum of pun"ishmekt is the maximum of CHAPTER X SCHOOL ARRANGEMENTS TJ^ VERY teacher before opening a school should have I J some general plan in his mind of what he intends to accomplish. In every enterprise there is great ad- vantage to be derived from forethought, — and perhaps nowhere is the advantage greater than in the business of teaching. The day of opening a school is an event- ful day to the young teacher. A thousand things crowd upon him at the same time, and each demands a prompt and judicious action on his part. The children to the number of half a hundred all turn their inquiring eyes to him for occupation and direction. They have come full of interest in the prospects of the new school, ready to engage cheerfully in whatever plans the teacher may have to propose ; and, I was about to say, just as ready to arrange and carry into effect their own plans of disorder and misrule, if they, unhappily for him and for themselves, find he has no system to introduce. What a critical — what an eventful moment is this first day of the term to all concerned ! The teacher^s success and usefulness, — nay, his reputation as an efficient instructor, — now ''hang upon the decision of School akraxgemexts 250 Ang-ellc solicitude.— Low qualifications. an honr'\ An hour, too, may almost foretell whether the i^recions season of childhood and youth now before these immortals is to be a season of profit and health- ful culture under a judicious hand, or a season of Avasted — perhaps worse than wasted — existence, under the imbecility or misguidance of one who ^^ knows not what he does or what he deals with/^ If angels ever visit our earth and hover unseen around the gatherings of mortals to survey their actions and contemplate their destiny as affected by human instru- mentality, it seems to me there can be no spectacle so calculated to awaken their interest and enkindle their sympathy as when they see the young gathering to- gether from their scattered homes in some rural district, to receive an impress, for weal or woe, from the hand of him who has undertaken to guide them. And suppos- ing them to have the power to appreciate to the full extent the consequences of human agency, how must they be touched w^ith emotions of joy and gratitude, or shudder with those of horror and dread, as they witness the alternations of wisdom and folly, seriousness and in- difference, sincerity and duplicity, purity and defile- ment, exhibited by him who has assumed to be at once the director and exemplar in the formation of human character, at such an important period. How deplorable is the thought that all the fond hopes of the parents, ail 260 THEOHY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING The first day.— A suggestion.— Its advantages. the worthy aspirings of the children, and all the thrilling interests of higher beings, are so often to be answered by qualifications so scanty, and by a spirit so indifferent in the teacher of the young. How sad the thought that up to this very moment so pregnant with conse- quences to all concerned, there has been too often so little of preparation for the responsibility. I fain would impress the young teacher with the im- portance of having a plan for even the first day of the school. It will raise him surprisingly in the estimation of the pupils and also of the parents if he can make an expeditious and efficient beginning of the school. While the dull teacher is slowly devising the plans he will by and hy present for the employment and improvement of his school, the children taking, advantage of their own exemption from labor, very promptly introduce their own plans for amusing themselves or for annoying him ; — whereas if he could but have his own plans already made, and could promptly and efficiently carry them into execution, he would forestall their mischievous designs and make co-operators out of liis opposers. In order to be sure of a successful commencement I would recommend that the teacher should go into the district a few days before the school is to begin. By careful inquiry of the trustees or the school committee he can ascertain what are the character of the district SCHOOL ARRANGEMENTS 361 Important inquiries. and wants of the school. This will aiforcl him consider- able aid. But he should do more than this. He would do well to call on several of the families of the district whose children are to become members of his school. This he can do without any ceremony, simply saying to them that, as he has been appointed their teacher, he is desirous as far as he may to ascertain their wants, in order to be as prompt as possible in the organization of his school. He will of course see the children them- selves. From them he can learn what was the organ- ization of the school under his predecessor ; how many studied geography, how many arithmetic, grammar, etc. ; and he can also learn whether the former organ- ization was satisfactory to the district or not. The modes of government and the methods of interesting the pupils practised by the former teacher would be likely to be detailed to him ; and from the manner of both parents and children he could judge whether similar methods would still be desirable in the district. By calling on several of the largest families in this way, he would learn beforehand very accurately the state of the school and the state of the district. I will take this occasion to insist that the teacher in these visits should heartily discourage any forwardness, so common among children, to disparage a former teacher. It should be his sole object to gain useful in- 262 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHINC^ Caution against meanness.— Making- personal friends.— A common error. formation. He should give no signs of pleasure in listening to any unfavorable statements as to his prede- cessor ; and I may add that during the progress of the school he should ever frown upon any attempt on the part of the pupils to make comparisons derogatory to a former teacher. This is a practice altogether too prevalent in our schools ; and I am sorry to say there are still too many teachers who are mean enough to countenance it. Such a course is unfair, because the absent party may be grossly misrepresented ; it is dan- gerous, because it tends to cultivate a spirit of detraction in the young ; and it is mean, because the party is absent and has no opportunity of defending himself. Another important advantage of the visits proposed would be that he would make the acquaintance of many of the children beforehand ; and very likely, too, if he should go in the right spirit and with agreeable man- ners he would make a favorable impression upon them, and thus he would have personal friends on his side to begin with. The parents too would see that he took an interest in his employment ; that he had come among them in the spirit of his vocational! the spirit of earnestness ; and they would become interested in his success, — a point of no small importance. I might here caution the teacher against a very com- jiion error. He should not confine hi§ visits to the SCHOOL ARRANGEMENTS 263 Mr. Abbott.— Early at tlie school.— Wliy ? more wealthy and influential families. The poor and the humble should receive his attentions as soon as the rich. From the latter class very likely a large portion of his school will come ; and it is wrong in jn-inciple as well as policy to neglect those who have not been as successful as others in the one item of accumulating property. On the day of opening the school he should be early at the school-house. Mr. Abbott, in his Teacher, has some valuable suggestions on this point. ^^It is desirable/"^ he says, " that the young teacher should meet his scholars at first in an ^Diofficial capacity. For this purpose he should repair to the schoolroom on the first day at an early hour, so as to see and become acquainted with the scholars as they come in one by one. He may take an interest with them in all the little arrangements connected with the opening of the school, — the building of the fire, the paths through the snow, the arrangement of seats : calling upon them for information or aid, asking their names, and in a word, entering fully and freely into conversa- tion with them, just as a parent under similar circum- stances would do with his children. All the children thus addressed will be pleased with the gentleness and affability of the teacher. Even a rough and ill-natured boy, who has perhaps come to the school with the ex- 264 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING It should be habitual.— Roguery promoted. press determination of attempting to make mischief, will be completely disarmed by being asked pleasantly to help the teacher fix the fire, or alter the position of a desk. Thus by means of the half hour during which the scholars are coming together, the teacher will find when he calls upon the children to take their seats that he has made a large number of them his personal friends. Many of these will have communi- cated their first impressions to others, so that he will find himself possessed, at the outset, of that which is of vital consequence in opening any administration — a strong party in his favor/' It will be well for the teacher for several days, both in the morning and afternoon, to be early at the school- room. He can thus continue his friendly intercourse with the pupils, and effectually prevent any concerted action among them at that hour to embarrass his gov- ernment. Many a school has been seriously injured, if not broken up, by the scholars' being allowed to assemble early at the school with nothing to occupy them and no one to restrain them. Having so con- venient an opportunity for mischief, their youthful activity will be very likely to find egress in an evil direction. Many a tale of roguery could be told, founded upon the incidents of the schoolroom before school hours, if those who have good memories would SCHOOL ARRANGEME]SrTS 265 A day's work.—" Wliat shall I do ? "— " Yes, m'm." but reveal their own experience ; — roguery that never Avould have occurred had the teacher adopted the course here suggested. SECTION I — PLAK OF THE DAY^S WORK It will be remembered by many of the readers of this volume, that in former times numerous teachers were accustomed to work without a plan, attempting to do their work just as it liapjjened to demand attention, but never taking the precaution to have this demand under their own control. If one scholar or class was not ready to recite, another would be called ; and there being no particular time for tlie various exercises, the school would become a scene of mere listlessness ; and the teacher would hardly know how to find employment for himself in the school. I shall make this point clearer by an example. Having occasion, in an official capacity, to visit a school which had been kept by a young teacher some two weeks, she very naturally asked — ^MVhat shall I do first, this afternoon ? " ''Do precisely as you would if I had not come in," was the reply. She looked a little perplexed. At length she doubt- ingly asked, — ^' Is the geography lesson ready V '' Yes, m'm '' — " Iso, m'm ''—''Yes, m'm," — was the 266 THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHING Veto.— A hard time.— A hint given. ambiguous reply from tlie class. There was so much of veto in the looks of the young geographers, that it amounted to prohibition. '^Well, are the scholars in Colburn's arithmetic ready ?^^ This was said with more of hope ; but the same equivocal answer was vociferated from all parts of the room. The teacher, placing her finger upon her lip, looked despairingly ; but recollecting one more resort, she said, — " Is the grammar class ready ? '' Again came the changes on ^' Yes, m'm,'' and *•' No, m^m." The teacher gave up, and asked what she should do. She was again told to go on as tisual for that afternoon. It was a tedious afternoon to her, as it was to her visitor. She at length called one of the classes, unpre- pared as many of them said they were, and the exercise showed that none but those who said ''^ Yes, m^m '", were mistaken. The whole afternoon seemed to be one of pain and mortification to all concerned ; and I fancied I could almost read in the knitted brow of the teacher a declaration that that should be her last school. At the close of the afternoon a single hint was sug- gested to her, — viz., that she should make out a list of her scholars' duties, and the times when they would be expected to recite their several lessons. She was told SCHOOL ARRAKGEMENTS 267 Improvement.— A case supposed.— Classification. that it would be well to explain this plan of her clay's work to her school in the morning, and then never again ash lolietlier a class was ready. The hint was taken ; and on subsequent visitations the several classes were ever ready to respond to the call of their instructor. Now this matter is no unimportant one to the teacher. Indeed I judge of a teacher's ability very much by the wisdom and tact with which he apportions his time for his own duties, and divides the time of his scholars be- tween their studies and recitations. In order to aid the young teacher in forming a plan for himself, I subjoin a scheme of a day's duties, adapted to a school of the simplest grade. Suppose a school to consist of thirty scholars, and that the teacher finds by inquiry and by examination that there may be four grand divisions ; the first, which he designates [A,] may unite in pursuing Eeading, Grammar, Mental Arithmetic, Written Arithmetic, and Writing. The second, [B,] can pursue Reading, Spelling, Writing, Geography, Mental and Written Arithmetic. The third, [C,] attend to Eeading, Spelling, Mental Arith- metic, Writing, and Geography. The fourth, [D,] consisting of the small pupils, attend to Reading, Spelling, Tables, and sundry slate exercises. J^ow it is verv desirable that as much time should 268 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Preliminary considerations.— A scheme. be devoted to recitation as can be afforded to eacb class. It may be seen at once that in certain studies, as geography, mental arithmetic, and spelling — the teacher can as well attend to fifteen at once as to seven. In these studies, unless the disparity in age and attain- ment is very great, two divisions can very properly be united. All can be taught writing at once, thus receiving the teacher^s undivided attention for the time. Besides, it is necessary to reserve some little time for change of exercises, and also for the mtei^rujjtioiis which must necessarily occur. Tlie recesses are to be provided for, and some time may be needed for investigation of violations of duty and for the punish- ment of offenders. All this variety of work will occur in every school, even the smallest. Now, if the teacher does not arrange this in accordance with some plan, he will be very much perplexed, even in a small school ; and how much more in a large one ! He will do well very carefully to consider the relative importance of each exercise to be attended to, and then to write out his scheme somewhat after the following model. It must not be forgotten that studying is also to be provided for, and that it is just as important that the pupils should be regular in this as in recitation* Indeed, without such regularity he cannot expect ac- ceptable recitations. SCHOOL ARRANGEMENTS 26D Programme. For the above supposed circumstances. Time. M. Recitations^ etc. studies. 9 to 9.15 15 Reading, Sckipt., & Prayer. 9.15 to 9.40 25 i D. Reading, Spelling-, or ) ( Tables. | A. Reading; B. Ai-itli. ; C. Geography. 9.40 to 9.42 J_ Rest, Change of Classes, etc. 9.42 to 10 18 A. Reading. 1 B. Arith. ; C. Geog. ; ( D. Slates. 10 to 10.5 5 f Rest, Singing, ok An-) ■( SWERING Q.UESTIONS. j" 10.5 to 10.25 B. Arithmetic. 10.25 to 10.28 10.28 to 10.48 10.48 to 11 11 to 11.15 11.15 to 11.. 35 11.35 to 11.50 11.50 to 12 Rest, etc. f A. Gram. ; C. Geog. ; ( D. Books or Cards. B. & C. Geography. Recess. D. Reading, etc. A. Grammar. B. & C. Spelling. General Exercise. A. Gram. ; D. Recess. (A. Gram. ; B. M. Arith. ; \ C. Spelling, (B. Spelling; C. Spell- \ ing ; D. Slates. ( A. M. Arith. ; D. Books ( or Cards. Intermi.ssiGn. 2 to 2.15 2.15 to 2.45 2.45 to 3.10 3.10 to 3.30 3.30 to 3.40 to 4 4 to 4.5 4.5 to 4.25 4.25 to 4.55 4.55 to 5 D. Reading, Spelling, Tables. A. B. & C. Writln:;. A. & B. Mental Arithmetic. C. Reading. Recess. (A. Arith. ;B. Reading; ( C. Reading. D. Slates. C. M. Arith. ; D. Recess. /A. Arith.; B. Arith.; ( D. Books, etc. fA.Arith.;C.M. Arith. ( D. Drawing. Rest, or Singing. C. Mental Arithmetic. A. Arithmetic. Gen. Exer. and Dismission. (A. Read. : B. Arith. or Draw. ; D. Slates. B. Arith. or Draw. ; C. Draw. ; D. Dismissed. 270 THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHING^ A clock.— Study provided for.— Drawing. Remarks. In the foregoing Programme the first column shows the division of time and the jjortion allowed to each exercise. I need not say the teacher should be strictly punctual. To this end a clock is a very desirable article in the school. Both teacher and pupils would be benefited by it. The second column shows the recitations, admitting perhaps some variety, especially in case of the younger children ; while the third shows the occupation of those classes which are not engaged in recitation. It will be seen that the classes are studying those lessons which they are soon to recite ; and, as in this case it is supposed that all the lessons will be learned in school, each one has been provided for. It would be well, however, in practice to require one of the studies to be learned out of school, in which case no time should be allowed to the study of that branch in the programme. It will be perceived that drawing is placed as the occupation of the younger classes near the close of the afternoon. This is based upon the supposition that the teacher during recess has placed an example on the blackboard to be copied by the children upon their SCHOOL ARKANGEMENTS 271 An assistant.— A large scliool.— Alternation. slates. This is perhaps the most effectual way to teach drawing to children. Those more advanced, however, may use paper and pencil and draw from an engraved copy, or from a more finished specimen furnished from the teacher^s portfolio. It is essential that the teacher should, if possible, give some specimens of his own in this branch. I have seldom known a teacher to excite an interest in drawing who relied altogether upon en- gravings as models for imitation. It should be remarked further concerning such a programme, that in case of an assistant in the school two columns under the head of Recitations should be formed — one for the principaFs classes and one for the assistant's. If there are a few talented scholars who are able to do more than their class, they can be allowed to join some of the classes out of their division, or they may be provided with an extra study, which will not need daily recitation. In case the school is much larger than the one sup- posed above, and the classes necessarily so numerous as to make the time allowed to each study very short, then the principle of alternation may be introduced ; that is, some studies may be recited Mondays, Wednes- days, and Fridays, — and some other studies, with other classes, take their places on the alternate days. It is decidedly better for the teacher to meet a clasS; in 272 THEORY AKB PRACTICE OF TEACHIKG Tborougli work.— Nibbling.— Difficulty of classifying. arithmetic for instance, especially of older pupils, but twice or three times a week, having time enough at each meeting to make thorough work, than to meet them daily, but for a time so short as to accomplish but little. The same remark may be applied to reading, and indeed almost any other branch. The idea is a mischievous one, that every class in reading, or in any other branch, must be called out four times a day, or even twice a day, — except in the case of very young children. It may be compared to nibbling at a cracker as many times in a day, without once taking a hearty meal, — a process which would emaciate any child in the course of three months. These scanty nibblings at the table of knowledge, so often and so tenaciously practised, may perhaps account for the mental emacia- tion so often discoverable in many of our schools. The difficulty of classifying and arranging the exer- cises of a school becomes greater as the number of teachers to be employed increases ; and there is much greater inconvenience in allowing any pupils to study out of their own division when the number of teachers is more than one or two. Few are aware of the diffi- culty of arranging the exercises of a large school, but those who have experienced it. It can he done, how- ever ; and it should always be done as soon as possible after commencing the school. If at any time the arrangement when made is not SCHOOL ARRANGEMENTS 273 Way to correct a scheme.— Programme of a large school.— Next page. found to be perfect, it is not wise to change it at once. Let it go on a few days, and watch its defects with great care ; and in the meantime study out of school to devise a better. When this has been accomplislied and committed to paper, and perfectly comprehended by the teacher, it may be j^osted up in the schoolroom, and the day announced when it will go into 02:)eration. It will soon be understood by the pupils and the change can thus be made without the loss of time. Time for reviews of the various lessons could be found by setting aside the regular lessons for some par- ticular day, once a week, or once in two weeks ; and for composition, declamation, etc., a half day should be occasionally or periodically assigned. In order to give the reader a more complete idea of arrangement under varied circumstances, I subjoin the programme of the Kew York State Normal School, as copied by the Executive Committee in their Annual Report, made January, 1846. It should be borne in mind that this was the pro- gramme for only a part of one term ; and also that in this Institution the studying is done out of school hours, the time of regular session, with very few ex- ceptions, being entirely devoted to recitations or gen- eral instruction. See next page. 274 THEOPtY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHIKG Programme of New Yorh State Normal School. October 20, 1845, and onward. Time. Exercises. Teachers. 9 A. M. to 9.:^ Chapel Exercises, etc. in Lecture PtOOM. A. Class. Trigonometry and Surveying. . . B Class Algebra Prof. Perkins. Mr Clark C. Class. Higher AritlimetiG Mr. Webb. 9.30 to 10.15 Mr. Eaton E Class Grammar Mr Bowen TT Pln<^c! rifnoTrmhv Miss TTanpp 10.15 to 10.25 Intermission ok General Exercise. 10.25 to 11.10 B. Class. Grammar— Tuesday and Friday C. Class. Reading— Tuesday and Friday. C. Class. Grammar— Monday and Tliursd. D. Class. History and reading, alternately E Class Geoo'rapby Mr. Bowen. Principal. Mr. Bowen. Miss Hance. Mr Webb F Class Ortliocrapliy Air Ti!flt,nn 11.10 to 11.15 Intermission. A. Class. Science of Government 11.15 to 12 C. Class. Algebra— Mond.,Tues. &Tliurs. C. Class. Joins D. Class in Lecture, Nat-) ural Pbilosopby— Friday.. 1 D. Class. Natural Philosophy- daily E. Class. Elementary Arithmetic F. Class. Grammar Prof. Perkins. Mr. Clark. Mr. Webb. Mr. Bowen. 12 to 12.15 Recess. A. Class. Geometry B Class Hjc^her \ritlimetic Mr. Bowen. Prof Perkins Mr. Clark. 12.14 to 1 D. Class. ArilliUKtic E. Class. Reading and Orthography F Class Readin"' Mr. Webb. Mr. Eaton. Miss Hance 1 to 1.5 Intermission. Mr Clai'k B. and C. Classes. Human Physiology .... Principal. E Class Mental Arithmetic Miss Hance F. Class. Elementary Arithmetic Mr. Webb. 1.50 to 2 j Dismission. Wednesday is devoted to Penmanship, Composition, Declamation, " Sub- Lectures," Lectures, and General Exercises. 3p, m. to 4.30 VOCAL MUSIC. A. Class. Mond. ) B. Class. Wed. [ Mr. Ilsley C. Class. Friday. ) A. Class. Tues. ) ,,,, B. Class. Thurs. Howard C. Class. Satur. ) "owaid. ^CSOOL ARRAKGEMENTS ^75 Models not to be copied.— Teacher must think.— Interruptions. If I have devoted considerable space to this subject it is because I deem it of great importance to the teacher's success. With one other remark I dismiss it. These models are not given to be servilely copied. They are given to illustrate the great principle. The circumstances of schools will be found to vary so widely that no model, however perfect in itself, would answer for all. The teacher must exercise his own ingenuity and judgment to meet his own wants ; and in general it may be remarked that where a teacher has not the skill to adapt his own plans to his own circumstances, he can hardly be expected to succeed in carrying out the plans of another. SECTION II — INTERRUPTIONS In every school consisting of pupils of different ages and circumstances, there will be more or less of inter- ruption to the general order and employment of the school. Some of the pupils have never been trained to system at home ; perhaps most of them may have been positively taught to disregard it at school. At any rate, ''it must needs be," in this particular, ''that oSences come." Nor should the teacher lose his pa- tience though he should be often disturbed by the thoughtlessness of his pupils. He should expect it as a 276 THJEORY AND PEACTICE OF TEACHING A scene from nature.— Business accumulates. matter of course and exercise his ingenuity as far as possible to prevent it. It may well be one of his sources of enjoyment to witness an improvement in the habits of his pupils in regard to system. These interruptions proceed from various causes, — such as soliciting leave to speak, or to go out ; asking for some assistance in learning lessons, or for leave to drink, or to stand by the fire ; requesting the teacher to mend pens, or to set copies ; disorderly conduct in pupils, making it necessary in his judgment to admin- ister reproof or j^unishment in the midst of other duties, — and sometimes the vociferous and impatient making of complaints by one scholar against another. How many times I have seen a teacher involved in indescribable perplexity while trying to perform the duty of instruction and to ^^get through^' in time. While hearing a grammar lesson, a scholar brings up his atlas to have some place pointed out which he had upon one trial failed to find. The teacher turning to look for the place is addressed with *^' Please mend my pen,'^ from another quarter. Having the knife in hand, as if sncli things were to be expected, the obliging teacher takes the pen, and holding it between his eyes and the atlas, endeavors to shape its nib and to discover the city at the same glance. '' Jane keeps a pinching me^" — vociferates a little girl who is seated behind the SCHOOL ARRANGEMENTS 377 A crlsls.-A pall of water.— A juncture and a conjunction ! class. ^^ Jane, Jane," says the teacher, turning away from both the nib and the city, " Jane, come to me instantly." Jane with the guilty fingers thrust far into her mouth makes her way sidling towards the teacher. " May I go out ?"— says John, who is thinking only of his own convenience. '' No, no "—answers the teacher, a little pettishily, as if conscious that in a crisis like this a request simply to breathe more freely is scarcely justifiable. ''Please, sir, let me and Charles go out and get a pail of water." This is said by a little shrewd- looking, round-faced, light-haired boy who has learned how to select his time, and to place the emphasis upon the "please, sir '\ The teacher by this time being considerably fretted by such an accumulation of business 0:1 his hands very naturally thinks of the refreshment contained in a pail of cool water, and very good- naturedly answers the little urchin in the affirmative, who most likely is by this time more than half way out of the door, so confident is he of success. Just at this juncture a considerate-looking miss in the class earn- estly appeals to the teacher to know if the word next but three to the last was not a common noiin, though called a conjunction I This reminds ihe teacher tliat several words have been parsed without his notice, and he asks the class to ^^stop there". Glancing at his watch he discovers that he has gone three minutes be- 278 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING A truce.— Sunshine again. yond the time for recess, and he relieves himself by saying, " Boys may go out." This grants a truce to all parties. The pen goes back unmended, the atlas with its sought city undiscovered ; John *^goes out^^ now by common law, taking to himself the credit of this happy release, as he asked only to remind the master that it was time for recess ; Jane takes both thumb and finger from her precious little mouth, and smiling seats her- self by the side of her late challenger, who is by this time more than half repentant of her own impatience ; the shrewd-looking urchin and his companion return with the refreshing pail of water, — the boys and girls gather round to obtain the first draught, while the little chubby-faced lad comes forward clothed in smiles with a cup filled with the cooling liquid on purpose for the master ; the boon is accepted, the perplexed brow becomes placid, and all is sunshine again. — This is not a very extravagant picture of the interruptions in a district school. Those who have been brought up in such a school will recognize the fidelity of the lihciiess as it has been drawn from nature. Now whoever has any knowledge of human nature aud of school teaching will at once see that this is all wrong. It is a law of our being that we can do well but one thing at a time. He who attempts more must do what he attempts but very imperfectly. There was SCHOOL ARRANGEMENTS 279 Lancaster's motto.— System.— Teacliing deliglitfuL— When ? a great deal of wisdom embodied in that motto which used to be placed in the old Lancasterian schools : *^ A TIME FOR EVERY THING, AND EVERY THING IN ITS time/' It should be one of the mottoes of every teacher. In the construction of the plan or programme for the day's duties, great care should be taken to pro- vide for all these little things. If whispering is to be allowed at all in school let it come into one of the intervals between recitations. If assistance in getting lessons is to be asked and rendered, let it be done at a time assigned for the special purpose. As far as possi- ble, except in extreme cases, let the discipline be attended to at the time of general exercise, or some other period assigned to it, so that there shall not be a ludicrous mixture of punishments and instruction during the progress of a class exercise. It is pleasant to visit a school where everything '.s done and well done at its proper time. Teaching under such circumstances becomes a delightful employment. But where all is confusion and the teacher allows him- self by the accumulation of irregularities to be oppressed and perplexed, it is one of the most wearing and un- desirable vocations on earth. The teacher goes to his lodgings harassed with care, oppressed with a con- sciousness of the imperfection of his labors, and ex- hausted by the unnatural and unwarrantable tax 280 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Reverse.— Recesses.— How often ?— One each session. imposed upon his mental faculties. He groans under the burden incident to his calling and longs to escape from it, never once dreaming, perhaps, that he has the power of relieving himself by the introduction of sys- tem, and thus changing his former hahel into a scene of quietness and order. SECTION III — RECESSES In speaking of the arrangements of a school, the sub- ject of recesses demands attention. It is the belief of many enlightened instructors that the confinement in most of our schools is still too protracted, and that more time devoted to relaxation would be profitable both to the physical and the mental constitution of our youth. Some have urged a recess of a few minutes every hour in order to afford opportunity for a change of position and a change of air. This could better be done in schools composed only of one sex, or where the accommodation of separate yards and play-grounds permits both sexes to take a recess at the same time. Where these accommodations are wanting, and one sex must wait while the other is out, the time required for two recesses in half a day for the whole school could scarcely be afforded. I am of the opinion, as our schools are at present composed, that one recess in the SCHOOL ARRANGEMENTS 381 Ten minutes to each sex.— Separate playground. half day for each sex is all that can be allowed. The question then is, how can that one recess be made most conducive to the purposes for which it is designed ? 1. As to its duratio7i. Ten minutes is the least time that should be thought of, if the children are to be kept closely confined to study during the remainder of the three hours' session ; that is, ten minutes for each sex. It would be a very desirable thing if our school-houses could be so furnished with separate play-grounds and separate out-door accommodations that both sexes could take recess at the same time. This would save much time to the district in the course of a term, audit would also give opportunity for thoroughly ventilating the room during recess, while it would afford the teacher opportunity to take the air, and overlook the sports of the children to some extent, — a matter of no small importance. Where these facilities are wanting, and the teacher must remain Avitliin to preside over the one half of the school while the others are out, he may still give ten minutes at least to each sex, contriving to employ profitably the tim_e within doors. He may reserve this time for settling such difficulties as may have arisen in the school ; he may administer reproofs, inflict his pun- ishments if any are necessary, or he may spend the time in giving assistance to the pupils, or in drawing 282 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Teacher's work at recess.— Proper hour.— Young children. upon the blackboard for the advantage of the younger pupils as they come in. In a large school, where a longer recess is the more necessary on account of the bad air of the schoolroom, he will find the more duty to be done at this time ; so that in any event the time need not be lost, even if fifteen minutes be allowed to each sex. 2. As to the projjer liour for recess. It was an old rule to have recess when " school was half do7ie." In- deed, this expression was often used as synonymous with recess in many districts twenty-five years ago. It is now generally thought better to have the recess occur later, perhaps when the school session is two-thirds past. It is found that children, accustomed to exercise all the morning, can better bear the confinement of the first two hours than they can that of the third, even though the recess immediately precedes the third. In a school the half-daily sessions of which are three hours, I should recommend that the recess be introduced so as to terminate at the close of the second hour. As far as possible it would be well to have all the pupils leave the room at the time recess is given them ; and as a general thing they should not ask leave to go out at any other time. A little system in this matter is as desirable as in any other, and it is quite as feasible. In a school composed partly of very young children SCHOOL ARRANGEMENTS 283 Teachers fail in assigning lessons.— Not too long.— Wliy ? there is no difficulty in giving such children two re- cesses each half day. Nor is there any ohjection to such a course. It is more irksome to young children to bear confinement than to the adult ; especially as they cannot be expected to be constantly occupied. It will relieve the teacher very much to have the children go out of the room as soon as they become fatigued, and as it will promote their own health and happiness to go, it is very justifiable to grant them the privilege. This may properly and easily be provided for upon the Programme. SECTION IV — ASSIGNING LESSONS Many teachers fail in this department. Judging of the difficulty of the lesson by the ease with which they can acquire it, even in a text-book new to themselves, they not unfrequently assign more than can possibly be learned by the children. They forget that by long dis- cipline of mind, and by the aid of much previously acquired knowledge, the lesson becomes comparatively easy to them ; they forget, too, the toil a similar lesson cost them when they were children. Now the effect of poorly learning a lesson is most ruinous to the mind of a child. He, by the habit of missing, comes to think it a small thino- to fail at recitation. He loses his self- 284 THEOKY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Not liOAV much, but how Avell.— Good habits of study. respect. He loses all regard for his reputation as a scholar. It is truly deplorable to see a child fail in a lesson with indifference. Besides, the attempt to ac- quire an unreasonable lesson induces a superficial habit of study, — a skimming over the surface of things. The child studies that he may live through the recitation ; not that he may learn and remember. He passes thus through a book and thinks himself wise while he is yet a fool, — a mistake that is no less common than fatal. The motto of the wise teacher should be : '' Not HOW MUCH, BUT HOW WELL.'' He should alwavs ask, is it possible that the child cmi master this lesson, and probable that he toill? It is better that a class should make but very slow progress for several weeks, if they but acquire the habit of careful study and a pride of good scholarship — a dread of failure, — than that they should ramble over a whole field, firing at random, missing oftener than they hit the mark, and acquiring a stupid indifference to their reputation as marksmen, and a prodigal disregard to their waste of ammunition, and their loss of the game. In assigning lessons the importance of good habits of study should be considered, and the lessons given accordingly. At the commencement of a term the les- sons sliould always be short, till the ability of the pupils is well understood, and their habits as good students SCHOOL AKRANGEMENTS ^85 A failure is a fault.— Re views. -Frequent. —Why ? established. As the term progresses, they can be gradually lengthened as the capacity of the class will warrant or their own desire will demand. It is frequently judicious to consult the class about the length of the lessons ; though to be sure their judgment cannot always be relied on, for they are almost always ready to under- take more than they can well perform. Assigning, however, somewhat less than they propose, will take from them all excuse for failure. When the lesson is given a failure should be looked upon as a culpable dereliction of duty, as incompatible with a good con- science as it is with good scholarship. This high ground cannot be taken, however, unless the teacher has been very judicious in the assignment of the lesson. SECTION V — REVIEWS In the prosecution of study by any class of students frequent reviews are necessary. This is so, because the memory is very much aided by repetition and by asso- ciation. But further, the understanding is often very much improved by a review. Many of the sciences cannot be presented in independent parts nor can all the terms employed be fully appreciated till these parts are again viewed as a whole. Many things which were but dimly seen the first time they were passed over, be- 5S6 THEORY AND PRACTiCE OF TEACHIiCCl Application ol principles to practical life. come perfectly clear to the mind when viewed afterwards in connection with what follows them. In conducting reviews regard must be had to the age and character of the pupils and to the branch pur- sued. In arithmetic, and indeed in mathematics gen- erally, where so much depends upon every link in the great chain, very frequent reviews are necessary. In- deed, almost daily it is profitable to call up some principle before gone over. In several branches, where the parts have a less intimate connection, as in geography, natural philosophy, and some others, the reviews may be at greater intervals. It would be well, I think, in every common school, to have a review-day once a week. This, besides the advantages already in- dicated, will lead the children to study for soniething heyond recitation. Nor is it enough, at the review, that the questions of the text-book be again proposed to the children. If this be all they will only exercise their memories. As far as possible the suhject should be called up and ajjplication of j^Tinciples io practical life should be dwelt upon. If this course is expected by the learners, they will tliinh during the week in order to anticipate the examination of the teacher; and this tliinhing is more profitable to them than the knowl- edge itself. It is always well, besides the periodical reviews, to SCHOOL ARRANGEMENTS ^87 A general review.— An exception. have a general review at the close of any particular study. This enables the teacher to detect any false conceptions which the j^upil h^s entertained during the first course. He can now present the subject as a whole, and view one part by the light of another. In natural philosophy, how mucli better the law of reflected mo- tion can be appreciated after the subject of optics has been studied, in which the doctrine of reflection in general has been fully discussed and illustrated. In physiology, what light is thrown upon the process of growth in the system by the subsequent chapters on absorption and secretion. How much clearer is the economy of respiration understood when viewed in connection with the circulation of the blood. A gen- eral review then is an enlightening process, and it is always profitable with perhaps with one exception. When it is instituted with reference to a public exam- ination, it is very doubtful whether the evil is not greater than the good. It then degenerates into an effort to appear well at a particular time ; it is again studying in order to recite ; and I look upon it as no small evil, that the mind should have any object in view which comes in between it and the graud desire to know, — to master the subject for its own sake, and not simply for the purpose of being able to talk about it on one great occasion. ^88 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Examinations.— Not to be talcen as indices of proficiency. SECTION VI — PUBLIC EXAMINATIONS It is now the usage in all oiir schools to have j)ublic examinations, — generally at the close of a term, or a portion of a term, — in order to test in some measure the industry and skill of the teacher and the proficiency of the pupils. I am hardly prepared to oppose this usage, because I am inclined to believe examinations are of some utility as a means of awakening an interest in the parents of the children ; perhajos they do some- thing to stimulate school-officers, and also to excite to greater effort during the term both the teacher and the pupils. Still, public examinations as frequently con- ducted are not without serious ohjections. 1. They certainly cannot be looked upon as criterions of the faithfulness or success of teachers. A man ^vith tact, and witliout honesty, may make his school appear to far greater advantage than a better man can make a better school appear. This has often happened. It is not the most faithful and thorough teaching that makes the show and attracts the applause at a public exhibition. It is the superficial, mechanical, 77?f??zor//er exercise that is most imposing. AVho has not seen a class that recited by note and m concert at a celebration win the largest approbation, when many of the individuals knew not SCHOOL ARRAKaEMENTS 289 Encouraging deception.— Preparation to make a sliow. the import of the ivords they uttered. Names in geography have been thus '^said or sung^^, when the things signified were to the children as really tcrrm incognitcB as the fairy lands of Sinbad the Sailor. 2. Nor can such exhibitions be claimed justly to in- dicate the proficiency of the pupils. Every experienced teacher knows that the best scholars often fail at a public examination, and the most indolent and super- ficial often distinguish themselves. The spectators not unfrequently in pointing out the talent of the school make the teacher smile at their blunders. 3. They present a strong temptation to dishonesty on the part of the teacher. Since so much stress is laid upon the examination, and particularly in some regions upon the Celehration, where several schools are brought together to make a show for a few hours, it must be rather an uncommon man who will have sufficient prin- ciple to exhibit his school as it is, and refuse to make those efforts so very common to have it appear wliat it is not. The wish, expressed or implied, of the parents, and the ambition of the children all conspire to make the teacher yield to a usage so common. Consequently, several weeks will be spent to preimre the children to appear in public. During this time, they study not for improvement, not for future usefulness, but simply to mahe a shoiu at the public celebration. An un- 290 THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHIK(J Sometimes useful.— When ?— Great motives. worthy and it n warrantable motive actuates them during all this process ;■ and at last, unless strangely benighted, they are conscious of holding up a false appearance to the world. Now, under such circumstances^ whatever of good is effected by way of enkindling a zeal in the parents is dearly purchased. The sacrifice of principle in a teacher — much more in the children — is a large price to pay for the applause of a few visitors, or even for an increase of interest among them in the cause of popular education. Examinations, however, which are less showy and which are of such a character as thoroughly to sift the teachings that have been given, and to thwart any in- genious efforts specially to prepare for them — examina- tions that look back to the general teaching of the term, or the year, and test the accuracy and thorough- ness of the instruction — are unquestionably very de- sirable and useful. To make them so in the highest sense, and to exempt them from an evil tendency upon the minds of the young themselves, the teacher should he strictly honest. Not a lesson should be given with sole reference to the exhibition at the close ; not an exercise should be omitted because the examination approaches. The good teacher should keep those great motives before the mind which look to future useful- ness and to the discharge of duty. The child should School ARiiAis^GEMEKTs 291 Further caution.— Teacher should he honest. be taught that he is accountable for what he acquires, and what he may acquire, and not for what he may appear to have acquired ; and that this accountability is not confined to a single day, soon to pass and be for- gotten ; but it runs through all time and all eternity. I know not but the expectation of an examination may stimulate some to greater exertion and make them better scholars. If this be so it may be well enough ; and yet I should be slow to present such a motive to the mind of a child, because a special or secondary ac- countability always detracts from the general and chief. A strong reason, in addition to those already assigned, why special preparation should not be made for the examination, is, that where such preparation is ex- pected, the pupils become careless in their ordinary exercises. While, then, I think too much stress is at present placed upon showy exhibitions and celebrations, and that objections and dangers attend examinations, as frequently conducted, I would not recommend altogether their discontinuance. I would rather urge that the teacher, by his inflexible honesty, should make them fair representations of the actual condition of his school, without felying very much upon them as a means of stimulating the pupils to exertion ; that the pupils ^92 THEORY AKD I^RACTICE OF TEACHING^ Restrictions and limitations.— Profitable examinations. should be made to feel that the results of their exertion through the term, rather than a few special efforts near its close, would be brought into review ; that no hypocrisy or management should ever be tolerated in order to win the applause of the multitude ; that no particular lessons should ever be assigned for the oc- casion ; that it should be remembered that the moral effect of an occasional failure at examination will be more salutary upon the school than unbroken success ; and that the children are irreparably injured when they are made in any way the willing instruments of false pretension. Under such circumstances examinations may be profitable to all concerned. If teacher and pupils have done well, they have the opportunity of showing it without violence to their own consciences. The em- ployers, and patrons too, have some means of forming a correct estimate of the value of their school ; and all parties may be encouraged and stimulated. But above all things, let the teacher be honest. CHAPTER XI THE teacher's RELATION TO THE PARENTS OF HIS PUPILS IN the choice of a clergyman, after estimating his moral and religious character and ascertaining the order of his pulpit talents, a third question remains to be answered, viz : — What are his qualifications as a pastor 9 How is he adapted to fulfil the various rela- tions of private friend and counsellor ; and in the family circle, in his intercourse with the aged and the young, how is he fitted to " Allure to brighter worlds and lead the way '" ? In that sacred profession every one knows that nearly as much good is to be done by private intercourse as in the public ministration. Many a heart can be reached by a friendly and informal conversation that would re- main unmoved by the most powerful eloquence from the pulpit. Besides, many are prepared to be profited in the public exercises by that intercourse in private which has opened their hearts, removed prejudice, and engen- dered a feeling of friendly interest in the preacher. The admonitions of the gospel thus have the double power of being truth, and truth uttered by the lips of a valued friend, (293) 294 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Social qualities In a teacher.— He slioulcl call on the parents. It is to some extent thus with the school teacher. He may be A^ery learned and very apt to teach and yet fail of success in his district. Hence it is highly im- portant that he should possess and carefully cultivate those social qualities which will greatly increase his usefulness. The teacher should consider it a part of his duty whenever he enters a district to excite a deeper interest there among the patrons of the school than they have every before felt. He should not be satisfied till he has reached every mind connected with his charge in such a way that they will cheerfully co-operate with him and sustain his judicious efforts for good. Being imbued with a deep feeling of the importance of his work, he should let them see that he is alive to the in- terests of their children. To this end, — 1. He slioulcl seeh frequent opportunities of inter- course with the parents. Though the advances toward this point, by the strict rules of etiquette, should be made by the parents themselves — (as by some it is ac- tually and seasonably done) — yet, as a general thing, taking the world as we find it, the teacher must lead the way. He must often introduce himself uninvited to the people among whom he dwells, calling at their homes in the spirit of his vocation, and conversing with them freely about his duty to their children and to fhemselves. Every parent of course will feel bound tp TEACHEK, PAKE^T, AND PUPIL 295 Object of Ws calls.— He should explain his plans. be courteous and civil in his own house ; and, by such an interview, perhaps a difference of opinion, a preju- dice, or a suspicion may be removed, and the foundation of a mutual good understanding be laid, Avhich many little troubles can never shake. It may be very useful to have an interview with such parents as have been disturbed by some administration of discipline upon members of their families. Let me not be understood, however, to recommend that the teacher should ever go to the parent in a cringing, unmanly spirit. It would probably be far better that the parties should ever re- main entire strangers, than that their meeting should necessarily be an occasion of humiliating retraction on the part of the teacher. Neither should the parents ever be allowed to expect that the teacher always will as a matter of duty come to their confessional. But it is believed if there could be a meeting of the parties as men, as gentlemen, as Christians, as coadjutors for the child's welfare, it would always be attended with good results. 2. He should he luilUng to explain all his plans to the parents of his pupils. If they had implicit confidence in him, and would readily and fully give him every facility for carrying forward all his designs without explanalion, then perhaps this direction might not be necessarj. But as- the world is he cannot expect spon- 296 THEOliY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Encourage inquiry.— No mystery. taneous confidence. They wish to know his designs and it is best they should be informed of them by him- self. The best way for the teacher to interest them in the business of education will be freely to converse with them concerning the measures he intends to adopt. If his plans are judicious, he of course can show good reasons why they should be carried into effect ; and parents are generally willing to listen to reason, espec- ially when it is directed to the benefit of their own children. Many a parent upon the first announcement of a measui'e in school, has stoutly opposed it, who upon a little explanatory conversation with the teacher, would entertain a very different opinion, and ever after would be most ready to countenance and support it. It seems to me a teacher may safely encourage inquiry into all his movements in school. There is an old say- ing — in my opinion a mischievous one, — which enjoins it as a duty upon all, to ^^ tell no tales out of school ". I see no objection to the largest liberty in this matter. Why may not every thing be told, if told correctly ? Parents frequently entertain a suspicious spirit as to the movements of the teacher. Would not very much of this be done away if it was understood there was no mystery about the school ? The teacher who would thus invite inquiry would be very careful never to do anything which he would not be willing to have related TEACHER, PARENT, AND PUPIL 297 Encourage parental visitation.— Begin witli mothers.— Be honest. to the 23arents, or even to be witnessed by them. I would have no objection, if it were possible, that walls of our schoolrooms, as you look inward, should be transparent, so that any individual unperceived might view with his own eyes the movements within. The consciousness of such an oversight would work a healthy influence upon those who have too long de- lighted in mystery. 3. The teacher should encourage parents frequently to visit his school. There is almost everywhere too great backwardness on the part of parents to do this duty. The teacher should early invite them to come in. It is not enough that he do this in general terms. He may fix the time and arrange the party so that those who would assimilate should be brought together. It will frequently be wise to begin with the mothers, where visitation has been unusual. They will soon bring in the fathers. As often as they come they Avill be bene- fited. When such visits are made the teacher should not depart from his usual course of instruction on their account. Let all the recitations and explanations be attended to, all praises and reproofs, all rewards and pun- ishments be as faithfully and punctually dispensed as if no person were present. In other words, let the teacher faithfully exhibit the school just as it is, its lights and its shadows^ so that they may see all its workings and 298 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING No false pretences.— Be frank and true with parents. understand all its trials as well as its encourage- ments. Such visitations under such circumstances it is be- lieved would ever be highly beneficial. The teacher^s difificnlties and cares would be better understood and his efforts to be useful appreciated. The hindrances thus seen to impede his progress would be promptly removed, and the teacher would receive more cordial sympathy and support. But if the teacher makes such visits the occasion for putting a false appearance upon the school ; if he takes to himself unusual airs, such as make him ridiculous in the eyes of his pupils, and even in his own estimation ; if he attempts to bring before the visitors his best classes, and to impress them with his own skill by showing off his best scholars, they will, sooner or later, discover his hypocrisy, and very likely despise him for an attempt to deceive them. 4. 77^6 teacher should be franh in all his represen- tations to parents concerning their childre7i. This is a point upon which many teachers most lamentably err. In this as in every other case, 'Mionesty is the best policy." If an instructor informs a parent during the term that his son is making rapid progress, or as the phrase is — ^'^ doing very well "^ he excites in him high TEACHER, PARENT, AND PUPIL 299 No evasion. expectations; and if at tiie end of the term it turns out otherwise, the parent with much justice may feel that ha has been injured, and may be expected to load him with censure instead of praise. Let a particular an- swer, and a true one, always be given to the inquiry — '• How does my child get along ?'' The parent has a right to know, and the teacher has no right to conceal the truth. Sometimes teachers, fearing the loss of a pupil, have used some indefinite expression, which, however, the doating parent is usually ready to interpret to his child's advantage. But sooner or later the truth will appear ; and when the teacher is once convicted of any misrepresentation in this particular, there is rarely any forgiveness for him. For this reason and for his own love of truth, for his own reputation and for the child's welfare, he should keep nothing back. He should tell the whole story plainly and frankly, — and the parent, if he is a gentleman, will thank him for his faithfulness to him ; and if he has any sense of justice he will be ready to cooperate with him for his child's improvement. At any rate such a course will ensure tne reward of a good conscience. The teacher, as I have before urged, should have the habits and manners of a gentleman. He should strive also to acquire the ability to converse in an easy and agreeable way, so that his society shall 300 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Study the art of conversation.— Be modest.— "Out-door work." never be irksome. He in other words should be a man who does not require much entertaiiiing. Modesty withal is a great virtue m the teacher ; especially in his intercourse with the people of his district. Teachers, from their almost constant inter- course with their pupils, are apt to think their own opinions infallible ; and they sometimes commit the ridiculous error of treating others wiser than them- selves as children in knowledge. This infirmity in- cident to the profession should be carefully avoided ; and while the teacher should ever endeavor to make his conversation instructive, he should assume no airs of superior learning or infallible authority. He should remember the truth in human nature, that men are best pleased to learn without being reminded that they are learners. I have known some teachers who have sneered at what they have termed the ^'out-door work ^' here recommended. They have thrown themselves upon their dignity, and have declared that when they had done their duty within the schoolroom they had done all that could be expected, and that parents were bound to cooperate with them and sustain them. But after all we must take the world as we find it ; and since parents do not always feel interested as they should^ I hold it to be a part of the teacher's TEACHER, PARENT, AND PUPIL SOI Its result. duty to excite their interest and to win them to his aid by all the proper means in his power. In doing this he will in the most effectual way secure the progress of his school, and at Iho same time advance his own personal improvemuiic. CHAPTEK XII teacher's care of his health No employment is more wearing to the constitu- tion than the business of teaching. So many men falter in this employment from ill health, and so many are deterred from entering it because they have witnessed the early decay and premature old age of those who have before pursued it ; so many are still engaged in it who almost literally -'drag tlieir slow length along,"' groaning under complicated forms of disease and loss of spirits wliich tiiey know not how to tolerate or cure, — that it has become a serious inquiry among the more intelligent of the profession, " Cannot something be known and practised on this subject, which shall remove the evils complained of?'' Is it absolutely necessary that teachers shall be dyspeptics and invalids ? Must devotion to a calling so useful be attended with a penalty so dreadful ? A careful survey of the facts by more than one philanthropist, has led to the conclusion that the loss of health is not a necessary attendant upon the teacher of the young. It is believed, indeed, that the confine- ment from the air and sunlight, and the engrossing ^_ (30«) 'teacher'^ 6AEiJ Of ills iiEALTif SoS Laws ol healtli should be studied.— Effect of a change of employment. nature of his pursuits have a strong tendency to bring on an irritability of the nervous system, a depression of spirits, and a prostration of the digestive functions ; but it is also believed that by following strictly and systematically the known laws of health, this tendency may be successfully resisted, and the teacher's life and usefulness very much prolonged. The importance of the subject and a desire to render this volume as useful as possible, have induced me to ask leave to transfer to its pages, with slight abbreviation, the very judicious and carefully written chapter on ^^ Health — Exercise — Diet," contained in the ^^ School and the Schoolmas- ter," from the gifted pen of George B. Emerson, Esq., of Boston, — one of the most enlightened educators of the present age. HEALTH — EXERCISE — DIET '^ The teacher should have perfect health. It may seem almost superfluous to dwell here upon what is admitted to be so essential to all persons ; but it be- comes necessary from the fact that nearly all those who engage in teaching leave other and more active employ- ments to enter upon their new calling. By this change and by the substitution of a more sedentary life within- doors for a life of activity abroad, the whole habit of 304 l^IIEOHY AND PRACriCii OF TEACHING Exercise.— Teacher specially needs it.— Walking.— How ? the body is changed, and the health will inevitably suffer unless 23recautions be taken which have never be- fore been necessary. To all such persons — to all, es- pecially, who are entering upon the work of teaching with a view of making it their occupation through life, a knowledge of the laws of health is of the utmost im- portance, and to such this chapter is addressed. I shall speak of tliese laws briefly under the heads of Exercise, Air, Sleep, Food, and Dress. ^^ Exercise. — So intimate is the connection between the various parts of our compound nature that the faculties of the mind cannot be naturally, fully, and effectually exercised, without the health of the body. And the first law of health is that which imposes the necessity of exercise. ''The teacher cannot be well without exercise and usually a great deal of it. No other pursuit requires so much, — no other is so exhausting to the nerves ; and exercise, air, cheerfulness, and sunshine, are necessary to keep them iu health. Most other pursuits give exercise of body, sunshine, and air, in the very per- formance of the duties that belong to them. This shuts us up from all. '' One of the best as one of the most natural modes of exercise is icalhing. To give all the good effects of which it is susceptible, a walk must be taken either in teacher's cahr op his health 305 President Ilitclicock.— Kidin"- on horseback. pleasant company, or if alone, vvitli pleasant thoughts ; or still better, with some agreeable end in view, such as gathering plants or minerals, or observing other natural objects. Many a broken constitution has been built up, and many a valuable life saved and prolonged by such a love of some branch of natural history as has led to snatch every opportunity for a walk with the interest of a delightful study, ' Where living tilings, and things inanimate Do speak, at Heaven's command, to eye and ear.' The distinguished geologist of Massachusetts, President Hitchcock, was once when teacher of a school reduced to so low a state by disease of the nerves, which took the ugly shape of dyspepsia, that he seemed to be hurry- ing rapidly towards the grave. Fortunately he became interested in mineralogy, and this gave him a strong motive to spend all his leisure time in the open air and to take long circuits in every direction. He forgot that he was pursuing health in the deeper interest of science; and thus aided by some other changes in his habits, but not in his pursuits, he gradually recovered the perfect health which has enabled him to do so much for science and for the honor of his native State. *' Riding on liorsebach is one of the best modes of exercise possible for a sedentary person. It leads to an erect posture, throws open the chest, gives a fuller 3-06 THEORY AND PRACTICE OP TEACHING Garden.— Farm labor.— Rowing. breathings and exercises the muscles of the arms and upper part of the frame. * * * jj-^ -^veak- iiess of tlie digestive organs its efficacy is remark- able. * * * '' A garden furnishes many excellent forms of exercise, and the numerous labors of a far7)i would give every variety if the teacher could be in a situation to avail himself of them. This is not often the case. When accessible, the rake, the pitchfork, moderately used, cannot be too highly recommended. A garden is witliin the reach of most teachers in the country. It has the advantage of supplying exercise suited to every degree of strength, and of being filled with objects gratifying to the eye and the taste. * * * rpj^^ flower-garden and shrubbery commend themselves to the female teacher. To derive every advantage from them she must be willing to follow the example often set by the ladies of England, and use the hoe, the rake, the pruning-hook, and the grafting knife, with her own hands. '' Roiving, when practicable, is a most healthful exercise. It gives play to every muscle and bone in the frame. * ♦ * AYhen the river is frozen skating may take the place of rowing ; and it is an excellent substitute. * * * Driving a chaise or a sleigh is a healthful exercise, if sufficient precaution be used lEACHEll'S CAilE OE tllS HEALXil 'SOl Sawing- and splitting wood. -Warren Colburn.-In the morning. to giuird against the current Avhicli is always felt as it is i)rodnced by the motion of the vehicle, even in still air. " Sawing and s2)UfU7ig wood form a valuable exer- cise, particularly important for those who have left an active life for the occupation of teaching. "' Exercise should be taken in the early part of the day. Warren Colburn, the author of the Arithmetic, whose sagacity in common things was as remarkable as his genius for numbers, used to say that half an hour's walk before breakfast did him as much good as an hour's after. Be an early riser. The air of morn- ing is more bracing and invigorating ; the sights and sounds and odors of morning are more refreshing. A life's experience in teaching declares the morning best. * * * ^•Exercise must always be taken, if possible, in the open air. Air is as essential as exercise, and often, in warm weather particularly, more so. They belong to- n-other. The blood flows not as it should, it fails to n-ivc fresh life to the brain if we breathe not fresh air enough. The spirits cannot enjoy the serene cheer- fulness which the teacher needs if he breathe not fresh air enough. The brain cannot perform its functions ; thought cannot be quick, vigorous, and healthy, with- out ample supplies of air. Much of the right moral ^08 MEonY akd Practice of teacHikg In the light.— Cleanliness.— Water. tone of habitual kindliness and thankful reverence de- pends on the air of heaven. '*' Exercise must be taken in the light ; and if it may be, in the sunshine. Who has not felt the benignant influence of sunshine ? The sun^s light seems almost as essential to our well-being as his heat or the air we breathe. It has a great effect on the nerves. A dis- tinguished physician of great experience. Dr. J. C. Warren of Boston, tells me that he almost uniformly finds diseases that affect the nerves exasperated by the darkness of night, and mitigated by the coming on of day. All plants growing in the air lose their strengtli and color when excluded from light. So in a great degree does man. They lose their fine and delicate qualities and the preciousness of their juices. Man loses the glow of his spirits and the warmth and natural play of his finer feelings. * * * ^^Next to air and light, water is the most abundant element in nature. It can hardly be requisite to enjoin upon the teacher the freest use of it. The most scru- pulous cleanliness is necessary, not only on his own account, but that he may be able always to insist upon it, with authority, in his pupils. The healthy state of the nerves and of the functions of digestion depends in so great a degree on the cleanliness of the skin that its importance can hardly be overstated. * * * teacher's care of his health 309 Sleep.— Six or eig-lit hours.— Diet.— Simple food. '•Sleep. — No more fatal mistake in regard to bis constitution can be made by a young person given to study tbaii that of supposing that Xature can be cheated of the sleep necessary to restore its exhausted or strengthen its weakened powers. From six to eight hours of sleep are indispensable ; and with young per- sons, oftener eight, or more than s>x. It is essential to the health of the body, and still more to that of the mind. It acts directly on the nervous system ; and irritability, or what is called 7iervousness, is the conse- quence of its loss. This, bad in any person, is worse in the teacher than in any one else. It is an unfailing source of unhappiness to himself and to all his school. He would be unwise to subject himself to the conse- quences of the loss of sleep ; he has no right to subject others. * * * '•Diet. — To no person is an attention to diet more imj)ortant than to the teacher. For his own guidance, and that lie may be able to give proper instructions in regard to this subject to his pupils, the conclusions of experience, or what we may consider the laws of diet, should be familiar to him. Some of these are the fol- lowing : ^'1. Food should be simple ; not of too little nor too great variety. The structure of the teeth, resembling at once those of animals that naturally subsist on flesh. 310 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHIKG Extremes in kind and quantity.— True medium.— Taken at intervals. and qf animals that take only vegetable food, and the character and length of the digestive organs, holding a medium between the average of these two classes, indi- cate that a variety of food, animal and vegetable, is natural to man, and in most cases probably necessary. The tendency in most parts of this country, from the great abundance of the necessaries of life, is to go to excess in the consumption of food, particularly of ani- mal food. The striking evils of this course have led many to the opposite extreme — to renounce meats en- tirely. Experience of the evils of this course also has in most places brought men back to the safe medium. 'No person needs to be more careful in regard to the quality and nature of his food than the teacher, as his exclusion from air for a great part of the day leaves him in an unfit condition to digest unwholesome food, while the constant use of his lungs renders his appetite unnaturally great or destroys it altogether. Animal food seems to be necessary, but not in great quantities ; not oftener, usually, than once a day. * * * i^ winter the food should be nourishing, and may be more abundant ; in summer, less nutritious, less of animal origin, and in more moderate quantity. ''2. Food should be taken at sufficiently distant in- tervals. * * * The operation of digestion is not completed ordinarily in less than four hours. Food teacher's care of his health 311 Moderate quantity.— Avoid /««. should not be taken at shorter intervals than this, and intervals of five or six hours are better, as they leave the stomach some time to rest. ^'3. It should be taken in moderate quantity. In the activity of common life excess is less to be dreaded than with the sedentary habits and wearying pursuits of the teacher. * * * The exhaustion of teaching is that of the nervous power, and would seem to call for hours of quiet and freedom from care, with cheerful conversation and the refreshment of air and gentle exercise. Probably all the kinds of food in general use are wholesome when partaken of moderately. Those who, from choice or compulsion, pass from an active to a sedentary life, should at the same time restrict them- selves to one-half their accustomed quantity of food. ^^4. As a general rule fat should be avoided. * * None but a person who uses a great deal of most active exercise, or is much exposed to cold, can long bear its use with impunity. If taken, fat in a solid form is less injurious than liquid fat. '' 5. Fruit may be eaten with the recollection of the proverb of fruit-producing countries : ^t is gold in the morning, silver at noon, and lead at night.' Ripe fruit in its season is wholesome, and preferable for a person of sedentary habits to more nourishing and exciting food. But it should be a substitute for other food, not 312 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Fruit.— Drink water.— At meals.— Dress. ail addition. A bad practice, common in some places, of eating fruit, especially the indigestible dried fruits, raisins, and nuts, in the evening, should be avoided by the teacher. He must have quiet and uninterrupted sleep, and early hours, to be patient, gentle, and cheer- ful in school. '' G. The drink of a sedentary person should be chiefly water, and that in small quantities and only at meals. The intelligent Arab of the desert drinks not during the heat of the day. He sees that watering a plant in the sunshine makes it wither ; and he feels in himself an analogous effect from the use of water. There are few lessons in regard to diet so important to be incul- cated as this : ^ Drink not between meal-s.'' " 7. The last rule to be observed is that no un- necessary exertion of mind or body should be used immediately after a meal. If a walk must be taken it should rather be a leisurely stroll than a hurried walk. '^ Dress. — The teacher should be no sloven. He should dress well, not over nicely, not extravagantly ; neatly, for neatness he must teach by example as well as by jirecept ; and warmly, for so many hours of the day shut in a warm room will make him unusually sensitive to cold. The golden rule of health should never be forgotten : ' Keep the head cool, the feet warm, and the body free.' The dress of the feet is teacher's cake of his health 313 Clieerfulness.— Cause of low spirits. particularly important. Coldness or dampness of the feet causes headache, weakness and inflammation of the eyes, coughs, consumptions, and sometimes fevers. A headache is often cured by sitting with the feet long near a fire. Keeping the feet warm and dry alleviates the common affections of the eyes, repels a coming fever, prevents or quiets coughs, and serves as one of the surest safeguards against consumption. Many of our most sensible physicians trace the prevalence of consumption in northern states not to our climate but to the almost universal custom of wearing insufficient clothing, especially on the feet. *^ There is another subject intimately connected with health, which has been alluded to, but which ought, from its importance, to receive more than a passing remark. It is cheerfulness. This should be one of the ends and measures of health. It ought to be considered the natural condition of a healthy mind ; he who is not cheerful is not in health. If he has not some manifest moral cause of melancholy, there must be something wrong in the body or in the action of the powers of the mind. ^•'A common cause of low spirits in a teacher is anxiety in regard to the well-doing of his pupils. This he must feel ; but he must endeavor, as far as possible, to banish it from his hours of relaxation. He must 314 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING A liome.— Sociality.— Music. leave it behind him when he turns from the school- house door. To prevent its haunting him he must seek pleasant society. He must forget it among the endear- ments of home, the cheerful faces and kind voices of friends. This is the best of all resources, and happy is the man who has a pleasant home, in the bosom of which he may rest from labor and from care. If he be among strangers he must endeavor to find or make friends to supply the place of home. He must seek the company of the parents and friends of his pupils, not only that he may not be oppressed by the loneliness of his situation, but that he may better understand the character of his pupils and the influences to which they are subjected. The exercise of the social affec- tions is essential to the healthy condition of a well-con- stituted mind. Often he will find good friends and pleasant companions among his pupils. Difference of years disappears before kindliness of feeling, and sym- pathy may exist between those most remote in age, and pursuit, and cultivation. ****** *' A delightful but somewhat dangerous recreation is offered by music ; delightful, as always soothing to the wearied mind ; but dangerous, because liable to take to itself too much time. It would be desirable if every instructor could himself sing or play. If he cannot, let TEACHEKS CAKE OF HIS HEALTH 315 A pernicious habit.— "Comforter." liim listen to songs or cheerful music from voice or in- strument, or to the notes of birds. " ' I'm sick of noise and care, and now mine ear Longs for some air of peace.'" To the foregoing excellent remarks I could scarcely wish to add anything, save to call attention to that pernicious habit among both clergymen and teachers of dressing the neck too warmly whenever they go into the open air. There seems to have obtained an impres- sion that those who have occasion to sjpeah often should be peculiarly careful to guard their throats from the cold. Hence many are seen in a winter's day with a collar of fur, or a woollen *^ comforter," or at least a silk handkerchief of extraordinary dimensions around their necks, and often extending above their mouths and nostrils. If they have occasion to step out but for a moment, they are still subject to the slavery of put- ting on this unnatural encumbrance. Now I believe that this extra covering for the neck, instead of preventing disease of the throat and lungs, is one of the most fruitful sources of such disease. These parts being thus thickly covered during exercise become very Avarm, and an excessive local perspira- tion is excited ; and the dampness of the throat is much increased if the coverinsr extends above 316 THEOllY ANJJ PRACTICE OF TEACHING Broncliitis. —Experience. the mouth and nose, thus precluding the escape of the exhalations from the lungs. When, therefore, this covering is removed, even within-doors, a very rapid evaporation takes place, and a severe cold is the consequence. In this way a cold is renewed every day, and hoarseness of the throat and irritation of the ]ungs are the necessary result. Very soon the clergyman or teacher breaks down with the IronchitiSi or the ''lung conqjlaint", and is obliged for a season at least to suspend his labors. This difficulty is very much enhanced if the ordinary neck-dress is a stiff stock, which, standing off from the neck, allows the ingress of the cold air as soon as the outer cover- ing is removed. Having suffered myself very severely from this cause, and having seen hundreds of cases in others, I was de- sirous to bear the testimony of my experience against the practice, — and to suggest to all who have occasion to speak long and often that the simplest covering for the neck is the best. A very light cravat is all that is necessary. If the ordinary cravat be too thick and too warm, as the large-sized white cravats so fashionable with the clergy usually are, during the exercise of speaking an unnatural flow of blood to the parts will be induced, which, after the exercise ceases, will be fol- lowed by debility and prostration. A cold is then very TEACHER^S CARE OF HIS HEALTIT oil SirachlUng tlie neck. readily taken, and disease follows. I am confident from my own experience and immediate observation, that this unnatural siuaddling of the neck is one of the most fruitful causes of disease of the lungs and throat that can be meutioued. CHAPTER XIII teacher's relation^ to his profession IT has long been the opinion of the best minds in our country as well as in the most enlightened countries of Europe, that teaching should be a profession. It has been alleged, and with much justice, that this calling, which demands for its successful exercise the best of talents, the most persevering energy, and tlie largest share of self-denial, has never attained an appreciation in the public mind at all commensurate with its im- portance. It has by no means received the emolument, either of money or honor, which strict justice would award in any other department to the talents and exer- tions required for this. This having been so long the condition of things, much of the best talent has been attracted at once to the other professions ; or if exer- cised awhile in this, the temptation of more lucrative reward, or of more speedy if not more lasting honor, has soon diverted it from teaching, where so little of either can be realized, to engage in some other depart- ment of higher promise. So true is this that scarcely a man can be found, having attained to any considerable eminence as a teacher, who has not been several times (318) 319 Some noble souls.— Some small men.— Two evils. solicited — and perhaps strongly tempted — to engage in some more lucrative employment ; and while there have always been some strong men wlio have preferred teaching to any other calling, — men who would do honor to any profession, and who, while exercising this, have found that highest of all rewards, the consciousness of being useful to others, — still it must be confessed that teachers have too often been of just that class which a knowledge of the circumstances might lead us to predict would engage in teaching; men of capacity too limited for the other professions, of a tempera- ment too sluggish to engage in the labors of active employment, of manners too rude to be tolerated except in the society of children (!), and some- times of a morality so pernicious as to make them the unfailing contaminators of the young whenever permitted — not to teach — but to '^ keep school ". Thus two great evils have been mutually strengthening each other. The difference of the employers to the importance of good teachers, and their parsimony in meting out the rewards of teaching, have called into the field large numbers, in the strictest sense, un- worthy of all reward ; while this very unworthiness of the teachers has been made the excuse for further indifference, and if possible for greater meanness on the part of employers. Such has been the state of the 320 THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHlisG Educational millennium.— How ushered in ?— Different views. ciisc for many years past, and such is to a great extent the fact at present. It has been the ardent wish of many philanthropists that this deplorable state of affairs should be exchanged for a better. Hence they have urged that teaching should be constituted a profession ; that none should enter this profession but those who are thoroughly qualified to discharge the high trust ; and, as a conse- quence, that the people should more liberally reward and honor those who are thus qualified and employed. This would indeed be a very desirable change ; it would be the educational millennium of the world. For such a period we all may well devoutly pray. But how shall this glorious age — not yet arrived — be ushered in ? By whose agency, and by what happy instrumentality must its approach be hastened ? Here, as in all great enterprises, there is some difference of opinion. Some have urged that the establishment of normal schools and other seminaries for the better education of teachers, and the institution of a more vigilant system of supervision, by which our schools should be effectually guarded against the intrusion of the ignorant and inefficient teacher, are all that is necessary to bring in this brighter day. Others have zealously urged that such preparation and such super- vision are entirely superfluous and premature in the TEACHER^S RELATION" TO HIS PROFESSION 321 Truth between the extremes.— A mutual evil, and a mutual remedy. present state of the public mind. Hiey say that the public must first become more liberal in its appropria- tions for schools ; it must at once double the amount it has been accustomed to pay to teachers, and thus secure without further trouble the best talent to this vocation. To this the former class reply that the public has sel- dom been known to raise its price so long as its wants could be supplied at the present rates. They say that the last century has afforded ample opportunity for the exhibition of this voluntary generosity of the public, and yet we still wait to see this anomaly in human prudence, of offering in advance to pay double the price for the same thing ; for until better teachers are raised up, it must be an advance upon the present stock. So there is a division among them, ^^for some cry one thing and some another." Now I believe in this case as in most others, the truth lies between the extremes. As the evil complained of is a mutual one, as has already been shown, — that is, an illiberal public has tolerated incompetent teachers, and the incompetence of teachers has enhanced in turn the parsimony of the public, — so the remedy must be a mutual one ; the public must be enlightened and teach- ers must be improved ; the pay of teachers must be raised, but there must be also something to warrant the higher rate. Nor is it easy to determine which shall 522 THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHING Teacher's duty. begin first. We can hardly expect the people to pay more till they find an article worth more ; nor, on the other hand, can we expect the teachers to incur any considerahle outlay to imj^rove themselves until better encouragement shall be held out to them by their em- ployers. The two must generally proceed together. Just as in the descending scale there was a mutual downward tendency, so here, better service will demand better pay, and in turn the liberality of employers will stimulate the employed to still higher attainments in knowledge and greater exertions in their labors. In this condition of things the question recurs. What is the duty of teachers in relation to their calling ? I answer, they are bound to do what they can to elevate it. Lord Bacon said, '' Every man owes a debt to his profession." Teachers being supposed to be more intel- ligent than the mass of the community may justly take the lead in the work of progress. They should as a matter of duty take hold of this work, — a work of sac- rifice and self-denial as it will be at least for some time, — and heartily do what they can to magnify their office and make it honorable. In the meantime they may do what they can to arouse the people to a sense of their duty. The more enlightened are to some extent with them already. The press, the pulpit, the legislative assemblies, all proclaim that something must be done. l-EACHEli's KELATION TO HIS PROFESSIOjq^ '6'2'6 The encouragements.— Self-improvement.— Wliy important. All admit the faithful teacher has not been duly re- warded^ and some are found who are willing to do some- thing for the improvement both of the mind and condition of the teacher. This is encouraging ; and while we rejoice at the few gleams of light that betoken our dawning, let us inquire for a little space how we can hasten the ^^ coming in of the perfect day^\ SECTION I — SELF-CULTURE The teacher should labor diligently to improve himself. This is a duty incumbent on all persons, but particu- larly upon the teacher. The very nature of his em- ployment demands that his mind should be frequently replenished from the storehouses of knowledge. To interest children in their studies, how necessary is it that the teacher's mind should be thoroughly furnished with the richest thoughts of the wise ; to inspire them with a desire to learn, how important that he should be a living example of the advantage and enjoyment which learning alone can bestow ; to strew the path of knowl- edge with flowers, and thus make it the path of pleas- antness, how desirable that he should abound wath the aptest illustrations drawn from all that is wonderful and curious in nature and art ; to awaken the young mind to a consciousness of its capacities, its wants, its respon- sibilities, how thoroughly should he know all the work- 324: THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHING Example.— Temptations to self -neglect. ings of the human soul, — how wisely and carefully should he touch the springs of action, — how judiciously should he call to his aid the conscience and the religions feelings ! Besides, let it be remembered that in this as in other things, the teacher's exa7nple is of great importance. The young will be very likely to judge of the impor- tance of their own improvement by the estimate the teacher practically places upon his ; nor can he with any good grace press his pupils to exertion while they see that he makes none whatever himself. There is great danger in the midst of the confine- ment and fatigue of the schoolroom, and the pressure of anxiety and care out of school, that the teacher will yield to the temptations of his position and fall into habits of indolence as to his own improvement. Com- pelled, as he often is, to labor at great disadvantage, by reason of a small and poorly furnished schoolroom ; confined through the day from the sunshine and the fresh breeze ; subjected to a constant pressure of duty amid untold trials of his patience, arising from the law that impels children to be active as well as inconsider- ate ; required to concentrate his powers upon the double duty of governing and teaching at the same instant, and all through the session, — it is not strange when the hour of release comes that he should seek rest or recrea- teacher's RELATIOIT to his PROFESSIOIT 325 stagnation accounted for. -The teaclier has time.— Illustrated. tion at the nearest point, even to the neglect of his own mental or moral culture. I am of the opinion that this accounts for the fact that so many persons enter the work of instruction, and continue in it for a longer or shorter period without making the slightest progress either in the art of teaching or in their own intellectual .growth. Their first school indeed is often their best. This tendency or temptation incident to the calling it is the teacher's duty constantly and manfully to resist. He can do it. 1. He has the time to do it. He is usually required to spend but six hours in the day in the schoolroom. Suppose he add two hours more for the purpose of looking over his lessons and devising plans for improv- ing his school,— he will still have sixteen hours for sleep, exercise, recreation, and improvement. Eight hours are sufficient for sleep, especially for a sedentary man, (some say less,) and four will provide for meals, exercise, and recreation. Four still remain for improve- ment. Any teacher who is systematic and economical in the use of his time can reserve for the purpose of his own improvement four hours in every ttuenty-four, and this without the slightest detriment to his school duties or to his health. To be sure he must lead a reg- ular life. He must have a plan and systematically follow it, He must be jmnctual at his school, at his 326 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Punctuality in all things.— Immediate reward.— Proof. meals, at his exercise or recreation, at his hour of re- tiring and rising, and at his studies. Nor should he ordinarily devote more time than I have mentioned directly to his school. He should labor with his whole soul while he does work, and he will the more heartily do this if he has had time to think of something else during the season of respite from labor. It is a great mistake that teachers make when they think they shall be more successful by devoting all their thoughts to their schools. Very soon the school comes to occupy their sleeping as well as waking hours, and troublesome dreams disturb the repose of night. Such 7nen must soon luear out. But according to the laws of our nature, by a change of occupation, the jaded faculties find rest. By taking up some new subject of inquiry the intellect is relieved from the sense of fatigue which before oppressed it, the thoughts play freely again, the animation returns, the eye kindles, and the mind expands. 2. Such lahor finds immediate reiuard. The con- sciousness of groivth is no small thing towards encour- aging the teacher. He feels that he is no longer violating his nature by allowing himself to stagnate. Then he will find every day that he can apply the newly-acquired truth to the illustration of some princi- ple he is attempting to teach. He has encouraging and immediate proof that he is a better teacher, and that h^ teacher's RELATIOJ^r TO HIS PROFESSION 327 How to Improve.— A course of professional reading.— T lie books. has made himself so by timely exertion. He is tlius again stimulated to rise above those temptations before described, — this immediate availability of his acquire- ments being vouchsafed to the teacher, as it is not to most men, in order to prompt him to stem the current which resists his progress. And now, if I have shown that a teacher is bound to improve himself, both from a regard to his own well- being, and the influence of his example upon others, — and if I have also shown that he can improve himself, I may be indulged in making a few suggestions as to the manner of his doing it. 1. He sliould have a course of professional reading. It will do much for his improvement to read the works of those who have written on the subject of education and the art of teaching. If possible he should collect and possess a small educational library. It will be of great service to him to be able to read more than once such suggestions as are abundantly contained in the ^^ Teacher's Manual," by Palmer; the ^^ School and Schoolmaster,'' by Potter and Emerson ; the ^•'Teacher/' by Abbott; the ^^ Teacher Taught," by Davis ; ^^ Lec- tures on Schoolkeeping," by Hall ; '^ The Common School Journal," ''Secretary's Reports," and ''Lec- tures," by Horace Mann ; the " Connecticut Common School Journal," and "Journal of the Rhode Island 338 THEORY AN^D PRACTICE OF TEACHII^^G A course of general study.— One thing at a time. Institute/^ by H. Barnard; the ''^District School Journal," of Xew York, by Francis D wight and others ; the " Lectures of the American Institute of Instruc- tion ; " the '' Schoolmaster's Friend/' by T. Dwight ; the '^District School/' by J. Orville Taylor; the *' Teacher's Advocate/' by Cooper ; the writings, if they can be obtained, of Wyse, of Cousin, of Lalor, of Lord Brougham on Education, together with such other works as are known to contain sound and practi- cal views. It is not to be expected that every teacher will possess all these, or that he will read them all in a single term. But it is well to hold converse with other minds, and to have it in our power to review their best thoughts whenever our own need refreshing. I have given a somewhat extended list of books because the inquiry is now so often made by teachers what they shall read. 2. By 2JU7'suing systematically a course of general study. Many teachers Avho have a desire to improve themselves still fritter away their time upon little mis- cellaneous matters, without making real progress. It is well in this to have a plan. Let some one study, — • it may be geology, or astronomy, or chemistry, or botany, or the pure mathematics, — let some one study receive constant attention till no mean attainments have been made in it. By taking one thing at a time and TEACHERS RELAT10:N^ TO HIS PROFESSION^ 329 A journal or common-place book.— Why ? diligently pursuing it^ at the end of a term the teacher feels that he has something to show for his labor, — and he is by the advance already made prepared to take tlie next and more difficult step. In a course of years, while a neighbor who began teach- ing at the same time has been stagnating or even retrograding for the want of a plan and a purpose, a diligent man, by system and perseverance, may make himself at least equal to many who have enjoyed better advantages in early life, and at the same time have the superadded enjoyment of feeling that he has been his own teacher. 3. Keep a journal or common-place looJc. The habit of composing daily is very valuable to the teacher. In this book he may record whatever plans he has devised, with their results in practice. He may enter remarkable cases of discipline, — in short, anything which in the course of his practice he finds inter- esting. Those valuable suggestions which he receives from others, or hints that he may derive from books, may be epitomized here, and thus be treas- ured up for future reference. Sometimes one's best thoughts fade from his own mind and he has no power to recall them. Such a book would preserve them, and would moreover show the character of one's thoughts at any particular period, and the j^^f ogress 330 THEOKY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING A demonstration— Encouragement to others. of thought, from one period to auother^ better than any other means.* To these means of self-cnlture I would add the j^rac- tice of carefully reading and writing on chosen subjects more fully described in the chapter on Habits of the Teacher. By all these means and such others as may come within his reach, if a teacher succeeds in liis attempts at progress, he does much for his 2irofessioii. The very fact that he has given practical demonstration that a man may teach and still improve ; that the temptations of his profession may be resisted and overcome ; that the life of the pedagogue which has required him to keep the company of small minds and to be occupied with minute objects, has never prevented his holding communion with the greatest men our earth has known, nor circumscribed in the least the sphere of his grasp- ing research, — I say the very fact that he has thus shown what a man may do under such circum- stances, may do much to encourage others to like effort. But there are other and direct duties which he owes to hia profession, which I proceed to consider under the head of * For furtlier remarks on the Common-place Book, see chap, vii p. 138, J^pte. teacher's relation^ to his profession 331 MuUial aid.— Seinslmess.— An exclusive spirit. SECTION il— MUTUAL AID. Every teacher should be willing to impart as well as to receive good. No one, whatever may be his per- sonal exertions, can monopolize all the wisdom of the world. The French have a proverb that " Everybody is wiser than anybody." Acting on this principle the teacher should be willing to bring his attainments into the common stock, and to diffuse around him as far as he is able the light he possesses. I have no language with which to express my abhorrence of that selfish- ness which prompts a man, after attaining to some eminence as a teacher by the free use of all the means within his reach, self-complacently to stand aloof from his fellow teachers, as if he would say : " Brethren, help yourselves — I have no need of you, and you have no claim upon me. 1 have toiled hard for my emi- nence, and the secret is with me. I will enjoy it alone. When you have toiled as long, you may be as wise. Brethren, help yourselves.'' Such a spirit would per- haps be tolerated by the world in an avaricious man who had labored to treasure up the shining dust of earth. But no man may innocently monopolize knowledge. The light of the sun is shed in golden refulgence upon every man, and no one if he would may separate a portion for his own exclusive use by closing his shut- 332 THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHING Without excuse.— Mutual visitation.— Dr. Young. ters about liim, — for that moment his light be- comes darkness. It is thus with the light of knowledge. Like the air we breathe, or like the rain from heaven, it should be free to all. The man who would lock up the treasures of learning from the gaze of the whole world, whether in the tomes of some dusty library, as of old it was done, or iu the recesses of his narrower soul, is unworthy of the name of man ; he certainly has not the spirit of the teacher. An exclusive spirit may be borne where meaner things, as houses, and lands, and gold, are at stake : but in education and religion — light and love, — where giving doth not impoverish nor withholding make rich, there is not even the shadow of an excuse for it. The man who is exclusive in these things, would be so, I fear, in heaven. Hoiu can teachers encourage each other f 1. By mutual visitation. Very much may be done by social intercourse. Two teachers can scarcely converse together an hour without benefiting each other. The advantages of intercourse with friends, as delineated by Dr. Young, may not be denied to teachers : " Hast thou no friend to set thy mind ahroach ? Good sense will stagnate. Thoughts shut up Avant air, And spoil lil^e bales unopened to the sun. Had thought heen all, sweet speech had heen denied. teacher's relation to his profession^ 333 Even one's faults may instruct us. Thouglit, too, delivered, is the more possessed ; Teaching-, we learn ; and giving, we retain The hirths of Intellect, when dumb, forgot. Speech ventilates our Intellectual fire ; Speech burnishes our mental magazine, Brightens for ornament, and whets for use." But not only should teachers visit one another, — it is profitable also for them to visit each other^s schools. I have never spent an hour in the school of another with- out gaining some instruction. Sometimes a new way of illustrating a difficult point, sometimes an exhibition of tact in managing a difficult case in discipline, some- times an improved method of keeping up the interest in a class, would suggest the means of making my own labors the more successful. And even should one's neighbor be a bad teacher, one may sometimes learn as much from witnessing glaring defects as great excel- lencies. Some of the most profitable lessons I have ever received have been drawn from the deficiencies of a fellow teacher. We seldom '^ see ourselves as others see us"; and we are often insensible of our own faults till we have seen them strikingly exhibited by another ; and then by a comparison we correct our own. Besides, by a visitation of a friend's school we may not only receive good, but we may impart it. If there is mutual confidence, a few words may aid him to cor- rect his faults, if he has any, — faults which but for ^84 T'HEOKY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHIKfi Stated teachers' meetings.— Tlielr use.— Employ the pen. such suggestion might grow into co med habits to his permanent injury. So important is this mutual visitation among teach- ers as a means of improvement, that I doubt not em- ployers would find it for their interest to encourage it by allowing the teachers to set apart an occasional half day for this purpose. It would, moreover, be very useful for the teachers of a town to hold stated meetings as often as once a month for the purpose of mutual improvement. It would cultivate a fellow-feeling among them, and it would afford them an opportunity to exchange thoughts on most of the difficulties which they meet in their schools, and the best methods of surmounting them. At these meetings a mutual exchange of books on the subject of teaching would extend the facilities of each for improving his own mind and his methods of instruc- tion and government. 2. By the use of the pen. Every teacher should be a ready writer. Nearly every teacher could gain ac- cess to the columns of some paper, through which he could impart the results of his experience, or of his reflection. Such a course would benefit him specially, and at the same time it would awaken other minds to thought and action. In this way the attention, not only of teachers but of parents, would be called to the great 83o Teachers' Associations.— Institutes.— Their utility. work of education. One mind in this way might move a thousand. If a teacher does not feel qualified to instruct, let him inquire, and thus call out the wisdom of others. This could be done in nearly every village. The press is almost always ready to promote the cause of education. By the use of it teachers may profitably discuss all the great questions pertaining to their duty, and at the same time enlighten the community in which they live. This is an instrumentality as yet too little employed. 3. B\j Teachers^ Associations or Institutes. These are peculiarly adapted to the diffusion of the best plans of instruction. Eightly conducted they can never fail of being useful. Every man who lectures or teaches is profited by the preparation. If he is a man of wisdom and experience he will benefit his hearers. If other- wise, the discussion which should ever follow a lecture will expose its fallacies. It has often happened in such associations, that an honest and experienced man has in a half hour given to the younger portion of the members lessons of wisdom which it would take them years to learn by their own observation. Errors in principle and practice have been exposed into which many a young teacher was unconsciously falling, and hints have been given to the quicker minds by which their own modes of teaching and governing have been speedily improved. S^6 THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHI^a Sliould be practical.— Talk.— Encouragement by meeting friends. As far as possible such meetings should be made strictly practical. To older teachers, who usually have the most to do with the management of them, should bear in mind that they are mainly designed to diffuse practical ideas of teaching, particularly among the younger members. Too often these meetings are made the arena of debate upon questions of very little prac- tical importance to the teacher. I have seen a body of men spend an entire session of a half-day in discussing a series of overwrought resolutions upon some topic scarcely at all connected with any duty of the teacher, frequently leaving the main question to wrangle about some point of order, or of ^^parliamentary usage"; and after the resolutions were passed or rejected, as the case might be, — (and it was of very little consequence whether " carried '' or " lost ",) — the ladies and younger teachers who had borne no part in the talk, would find it difficult to tell ''wherefore they had come together." Nothing had been said or done by which they could be aided in their schools. Lecturers, too, have frequently mistaken their aim. Ambitious to shine out as literary men, they have given orations instead of practical lessons. In these meetings, it seems to me nothing ostentatious, nothing far-fetched is what we need ; but rather the modes and experience of practical men. We need to come down to the schoolroom, to the every-day TEACHER^S RELATION" TO HIS PROFESSION 337 Illustration.— A professional feeling. business of the teacher, and thus prepare him to do his work more successfully on his return to his duties. Another and no inconsiderable advantage of such associations is that the teacher gains encouragement and strength by being thus brought in contact with others engaged in the same pursuit. Toiling on alone, in his isolated district, surrounded by obstacles and dis- couragements, weighed down by care and finding none to sympathize with him, he is almost ready to faint in his course and perhaps to abandon his calling. At this crisis he reads the notice for the teachers' meeting and he resolves to go up once more to the gathering of his friends. From the various parts of the county, from the populous and crowded city, and from the by- ways of the country-towns, a goodly number collect together and greet each other. Smile answers to smile, the blood courses more freely through the veins, the spirits, long depressed perhaps, partake of the general glow, and each feels that he is not toiling alone. He feels that a noble brotherhood of kindred spirits are laboring in the same field, under trials and discourage- ments similar to those which have oppressed him. He derives new strength from the sympathy of friends. A professional feeling is engendered which Avill ac- company him to his schoolroom ; and when he goes home it is with renewed vigor and fresh aspirings to be 838 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Light breaks in.— Cautions.— Be honest. a better man and a better teacher. He labors with more confidence in- himself ; and^ enlightened by what he has seen and heard, he is far more successful than before. His pupils, too, respond to the new life they see enkindling in him, and go to their work more cheer- fully. One difficulty after another vanishes, and he begins to think teaching, after all, is not the worst em- ployment in the world, but that it has some flowers as well as thorns ; and he concludes to remain in the pro- fession. This has been the history of at least one man. Long may many others have occasion to exercise grati- tude like his for the enjoyment of similar privileges.* I ought not to leave this subject without a word or two of caution : 1. Be honest. In all your interconrse with your fellow-teachers, be careful to use the words of ^"^ truth * The Essex County Teachers' Association, in Massachusetts, Avas flrst organized in 1829, and for seventeen years its meetings, of two days eaeli, have been held semi-annually, and usually very fully attended. This association has wrought an untold amount of usefulness by its improve- ment and encouragement of the teachers of that county,— and at this time it continues to diffuse its wonted blessings. A more intelligent and de- voted body of teachers cannot be found in the United States than those who now compose that association. Long may it continue to irradiate its glorious light ; and long may its devoted members enjoy the well-merited confidence of the community in which they labor. tEACHER'S RELATION TO ll 1 S PHOFESS/OX ^30 Danger of over-coloring.— Every-day practice.— " Nothing extraordiuary." and soberness '\ In stating your experience never allow your fancy to embellish your facts. Of this there is great danger. The young are sometimes te7npted to tell a good story ; but a deviation from the truth — always perilous and always wrong — may be peculiarly disas- trous here. Experience overstated may egregiously mislead the unwary inquirer after truth. Never over- color the picture ; it is better to err on the other side. So, likewise, in exhibiting your school to fellow- teachers, be strictly honest. They come to learn from your every-day practice, and not from a counterfeit ; and Avhenever you dress your school in a showy garb to win the applause of a fellow- teacher you do him a great injustice. You may not please your friend so much by your ordinary mode as by something assumed for the occasion ; but you may profit him far more ; and in the end you lose nothing by pursuing the line of duty. I well remember that a somewhat distinguished teacher once visited my own school, who on going away expressed himself somewhat disappointed because he did not see anything " extraordmary ", as he said, in my mode of procedure. Tlie truth was, nothing ex- traordinary was attempted. He saw what I wished to show him, an ordmary day^s work ; for I had before that time imbibed the opinion that a man^s reputation ^40 ULIEGR^ AXD practice of TEAC«iK(? Avoid imita,tloii.— Adapt rather than adopt another's plans. will be more firmly established by sustaining every day a fair mediocrity, than it ever can be by an attempt to outdo himself on a few special occasions. As the value of biographical writing is often very much diminished because the writer has endeavored to paint his character too perfect to be Iniman, — so these visitations will lose their utility, whenever, by substituting hollow preten- sion for sober reality, the teacher endeavors to exMhit such a sciiool as he does not daily keep. 2. Avoid servile imitation of any model. It is often remarked that every man's plan is the best for him ; and that many besides David can never fight in Saul's armor. This is generally true. All experience then should be considered in connection with the circum- stances under which it was tried, never forgetting the character and genius of the person who relates it. What might succeed in his hand may fail in yours ; particu- larly as you will lack the interest of an original inventor. The true secret lies in listening to the views of all, and then in making a judicious combination to meet your own character and your own circumstances. It is often better to adjust and adapt the plan of another, than to adopt it. Servile imitation precludes thought in the teacher and reduces him to a mere machine. The most successful teachers I have ever known were those who would listen attentively to the plans and experience TEACHER'S RELATION TO HIS PROFESSION 341 Avoid self-sufflclency.-Bal3es and sucklings. of others, and then strike out a course for themselves, attempting that, and that only, which they were confi- dent they could successfully execute. 3. Avoid undue self-sufficiency. Men usually cease to learn when they tUnh they are wise enough. The teacher is in danger of falling into this error. Moving for the most part among children, where his decisions are seldom questioned, he is very apt to attach undue importance to his own opinions. Such a man meets his fellows with much self-complacency, and is but poorlv prepared to be profited by the views of others. But the teacher should never cease to be teachable. There are very few men too old or too wise to learn something ; and they are the wisest, if not the oldest, who are willing to welcome a real improvement, even though it should come from comparative "babes and sucklings", out of whose mouths God has sometime.^ perfected praise. CHAPTER XIV MISCELLAl^EOUS SUGGESTIONS ON" looking over the notes which I have at various times made of my own experience and observa- tion^ during twenty years of practical teaching, I find there are several thoughts which may be of some service to the young teacher, and which have not been intro- duced under any of the general topics of this volume. I have therefore thought best to introduce a special chapter, with the above title, where I might lawfully bring together, without much regard to method, such varied hints as may convey to some reader a useful les- son. Some of these hints will refer to faults which should be carefully avoided, while others will point out some duties to be performed. SECTION I — THINGS TO BE AVOIDED 1. Guard against prejudice on entering a school. It is not always safe to rely upon first impressions as to character. At the opening of a school perhaps fifty individuals for the first time are brought before the teacher. Some of them are from humble life, and perhaps bear upon them the marks of parental neglect. (343) MISCELLANEOUS SUGGESTIOSTS 343 Danger of prejudice.-Its Injiistice.-Why ? Their persons and their clothing may present nothing to attract and gratify the eye of a stranger. Little ac- customed to society they exhibit an awkward bashful- ness, or an impertinent forwardness m their manner. Contrasted with these, others appear who have been the children of indulgence, and who have seen much more of the world. A more expensive garb attracts the eye ; a more easy and familiar address, conforming to the artificial modes of society, is very likely to win the heart. The teacher is very prone to find his feelings committed in favor of the latter class and against the former. But this is all wrong. A judgment thus hastily formed is extremely hazardous,-as a few days^ acquaintance will usually show. The child of blunt or shy demeanor often has the truest heart,-a heart whose sentiments go out by the shortest course,-a heart that has never learned the artificial forms of the world, be- cause it has never felt the need of them. And how unjust to the child is a prejudice founded on the circum- stance of dress ! Must the inability or neglect of his parent be doubly visited on him ? Is is not enough that he daily feels the inward mortification of a contrast with his more favored school-fellows ? Must he be painfully reminded of it by discovering that his teacher repels him on that account, and bestows his kindliest smiles upon those who are -the brightest and best-clad '' ? c 344 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Pupils not to direct tlieir studies. And yet such unjust prejudice is common ; wrong and unfeeling as it is, it is too common. A fine dress, and a clean face, and a graceful manner, I know are attractive ; but the teacher has to do with the mind and the heart ; — and he should never be deterred by anything exterior from making a diligent and patient search for good qualities which have their home behind the surface, — and he should ever possess a smile as cordial and a tone as parental for the neglected child of poverty and ignorance, as for the more favored son of wealth and ease. 2. Do not alloiu your ^mpils to direct their own studies. Whatever their age may be, they are seldom capable of doing this. It is the aim of the young to get over a long course of study. They are usually pleased to belong to higher classes before they have mastered the branches taught in the lower. If children are suffered to direct their own studies, they usually make themselves very poor scholars. This is the bane of many of our select schools and academies, where the teacher yields this right in order to secure pupils and a salary. But no one, not even the parent, is as com- petent as the teacher ought to be to direct in this matter. He has the best opportunity daily to fathom the pupirs attainments and to understand his defi- ciencies. He may claim the right to direct. In case MISCELLANEOUS SUGGESTIOKS 345 THIS tlie teucner's province.— A mistake.— An egregious evil in all scliools. the pupil withstands his decision, the teacher should appeal to the parent, and endeavor there to sustain his point, a thing generally within his power if indeed he is right. If the parent too is obstinate, and firmly in- sists upon the wrong course, the teacher may perhaps submit, though he cannot submit without the con- sciousness that his province has been invaded. It is too frequently the case that the teacher at the first yields all this ground voluntarily, by asking the children what they wish to study. When he has once made them a party in this question he need not wonder if they claim to be heard. This he should not do. He should first be sure that he is qualified to direct aright, and then, as a matter of course, proceed to do it, just as the physician would prescribe for the physical malady of such a child. The latter is not more the rightful duty of the physician, than the former is of the school teacher. Neither has the power to enforce his pre- scription against the parents' consent, — but that con- sent may be taken for granted by both till informed that it is withheld. I may here remark that in all my intercourse with the young, whether in the common or the higher school, I have found no greater evil than that of proceeding to the more difficult branches before the elementary studies have been mastered. It is no uncommon thing to find 346 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Illustrated.— The teacher— the remedy.— Do not attempt too many things. those who have '^ attended" to the higher mathematics — algebra, geometry, and the like — whose reading and writing are wretclied in the extreme, and whose spell- ing is absolutely intolerable I They have been pursuing quadratics, but are unable to explain why they ^'^carry one for every ten '' ; they have wandered among the stars in search of other worlds, by the science of astron- omy, without knowing the most simple points in the geography of our own ; they have studied logarithms and infinite series, but cannot be safely trusted to add a column of figures, or to compute the simple interest upon a common note ! In short, they have studied every tiling, except what is most useful to be known in practical life, and have really learned — nothing ! Now if this evil — grievous and extensive as it is at present — is destined ever to be abated, it is to be ac- complished by the instrumentality of the teacher, acting, in his appropriate sphere, in the capacity of a director as to the course of study for the young. He must not be a man who can merely teach, but one who understands the high import of a true education, and knows how to prescribe the order of its progress ; one, in short, who will never attempt to erect a showy superstructure upon an insufficient foundation. 3. Do not attempt to teach too many things. There is a tendency at present to introduce too many things MISCELLANEOUS SUGGESTIONS 347 Make no ambiguous mark upon mind. into all our schools. Nothing is more common than to hear our public lecturers declare, as they become a little enthusiastic in any given department, that ^^ this branch should at once be made a study in our common schools." This is heard of almost the whole round of the natural sciences. But it seems to me to be dictated by over-wrought enthusiasm. Everything cannot be well tauglit in our scliooh ; nor should too much be attempted. It is the province of our schools — particu- larly our common schools — to afford tliorougli instruc- tion in a few things, and to awaken a desire for more extended attainment. The instruction given should, as far as possible, be complete in itself, — while it should afford the means of making further advancement ; but that instruction which, beingmerely superficial, neither itself informs the mind nor imparts the desire and the means of future self-improvement, is worse than use- less ; it is positively injurious. A few branches thoroughly j^ossessed are worth more than a thousand merely glanced at, — and the idea of changing our com- mon schools to universities, where our children, before they pass from the years of their babyhood, ai'e to grasp tlie whole range of the sciences, is one of the most pre- posterous that has grown up even in this age of follies. The teacher then should not undertake too much ; he should be sure that he can accomplish what he under- 348 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING " Mind your business."— Excuses.— Dr. Franklin's remark. takes. The mark he makes upon the yoimg should he no uncertain sign. 4. Never attend to extraneous husmess in school hours. This is a common fault. Many teachers neg- lect their duties in school to write letters or transact such other business as should be done at home. This is always wrong. There is no time for it in any school ; for a diligent teacher can always find full employment even with a small number. Besides, he has engaged to devote himself to the school ; and any dej^arture from this is a violation of his contract. The children will so view it and thus lose much of their respect for the teacher. Moreover, if they see him neglect his business for some other, they will be very likely to neglect theirs, and thus disorder will be introduced. I hold that the teacher is bound to devote every mornent of school hours to active lahor for the school. 5. Avoid making excuses to visitors for the defects of your school. Franklin, I think, said that ''a man who is good for making excuses is good for nothing else.^^ I have often thought of this as I have visited the schools of persons given to this failing. It is sometimes quite amusing to hear such a teacher keep up a sort of run- ning apology for the various pupils. A class is called to read. The teacher remarks, ''This class have but just commenced reading in this book.'' Stephen fin- MlSCiiLLANEOUS SUGGl^STlONS o49 An Illustration.— Pity excited. ishes the first paragraph, and the teacher adds : '•' Stephen has not attended school very regularly lately." William reads the second. ^^This boy/' says the teacher, ''was very backward when I came here— he has but just joined this class." Charles executes the third. ''That boy has an impediment in his speech." Reuben follows. "It is almost impossible to make a good reader of Reuben ; he never seems to pay the least attention. I have bestowed unwearied pains upon him." Mary takes her turn. "This girl has lost her book, and her father refuses to buy her another." Mary here blushes to the eyes,— for though she could bear his reproof, she still has some sense of family pride ; she bursts into tears, while Martha reads the next paragraph. " I have tried all along," says the teacher, "to make this girl raise her voice, but still she will almost stifle her words." Martha looks dejected, and the next in order makes an attempt. Now the teacher in all this has no malicious design to wound the feelings of every child in the class, — and yet he as effectually accomplishes that result as if he had premeditated it. Every scholar is interested to read as well as possible in the presence of strangers ; every one makes the eifort to do so ; yet every one is practically pronounced to have failed. The visitors pity the poor pupils for the pain they are made thus 35(3 THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHIKG When I came /u-jt."— Meanness.— " How old are you ; needlessly to suffer, and they pity also the iceakness of the poor teacher, whose love of approbation has so blinded his own perception that he is regardless of the feelings of others, and thinks of nothing but his own. This over-anxiety for the good opinion of others shows itself in a still less amiable light, when the teacher frequently makes unfavorable allusions to liis predecessor. ^^When / came here," says the teacher significantly, '^1 found them all poor readers." Or, if a little disorder occurs in school he takes care to add : '^1 found i\\Q &q\\oo\ in perfect confusion," — or, ''The former teacher, as near as I can learn, used to allow the children to talk and play as much as they pleased." Now, whatever view we take of such a course, it is im- possible to pronounce it anything better than despicable meanness. For if the charge is true, it is by no means magnanimous to publish the faults of another ; and if it is untrue in whole or in part, as most likely it is, none but a contemptible person would magnify an- other's failings to mitigate his own. There is still another way in which this love of personal applause exhibits itself. I have seen teachers call upon their brightest scholars to recite, and then ask them to tell their age, in order to remind the visitor that they were very young to do so well ; and then insinuate that their older pupils could of course do much better. iirSCELLANEOUS SUGGESTIONS 'Soi Such arts recoil.— Comparisons are odious.— Tenderness to a dull child. All these arts, however, recoil upon the teacher who uses them. A visitor of any discernment sees through them at once, and immediately suspects the teacher of conscious incompetency or wilful deception. The pupils lose their respect for a man whom they all per- ceive to be acting- a dishonorable part. I repeat, then, Never attempt to cove?- the defects of yoiir schools by making ridiculons excuses. 6. Never compare one child ivith another. It is a poor way of stimulating a dull pupil to compare him with a better scholar. It is the direct way to engender hatred in the mind of the one, and the most consum- mate self-complacency in the other. Not one child in a thousand can be publicly held up to the school as a pattern of excellence without becoming excessively vain ; at the same time all the other scholars will be more or less excited to envy. Such a course is always unsafe ; almost always injurious. 7. Avoid woundi7ig the sensibilities of a dull child. There will always be those in every school who are slow to comprehend. After their classmates have grasped an idea during the teacher's explanation, they still have the vacant stare, the unintelligent expression. This may be so after a second or third explanation. The teacher is now strongly tempted to indulge in expres- sions of impatience, if not of opprobrium. This 36^ THEORY AND t^RACTlCE OF TEACHING Never get out of temper with parents.— Wliy temptation he should resist. Such children are to be pitied for their dullness, but never to be censured for it. It is an unfeeling thing to sting the soul that is already benighted. He should cheer and encourage such a slow mind to greater effort, by the sunshine of kind looks, and the warm breath of sympathy, rather than freeze up the feeble current of vivacity Avhich yet remains there by a forbidding frown or a blast of re- proach. A dull child is almost always affectionate ; and it is through the medium of kindness and patience that su'jli a one is most effectually stimulated. 8. Never lose your patience when iiarents unreason-^ ably interfere with your plans. It must be expected that some of the parents will wish to dictate to the teacher what course he shall pursue, at least in relation to their own children. This will sometimes bring them to the schoolroom, perhaps in a tone of complaint, to set the teacher right. Whenever a parent thus steps beyond theboundsof propriety, the teacher should never lose his self-possession. He should always speak the language of courtesy, in frankness, but in firmness. He should reason with the parent, and if possible con- vince him, — but he should never insult or abuse him. It may be well to propose to see him at his own house in order to talk over the matter more at his leisure. I recollect once a parent sent a hasty refusal to purchase SnSCELLAKEOUS SUGGESTIONS 555 An incident.— The study of the Bible. a necessary book for his son, — a refusal clothed in no very respectful language. I gave the lad a courteous note directed to his father, in which I intimated my desire to have an interview with him at his house at such time as he might appoint. In half an hour the boy came bounding back with the desired book, inform- ing me that his father said, '^He guessed he might as well get the book and done with it.^^ My intercourse with that parent was ever afterwards of the most pleas- ant kind. A supercilious parent can never gain an advantage over a teacher, unless he can first provoke him to impatience or anger. As long as the teacher is perfectly self-possessed he is impregnable. 9. Never make the study of tlie Bible a imnishment. I have known a teacher to assign sundry passages of the Bible, condemnatory of a particular sin, to be committed to memory as a punishment. I have also known the idle scholar to be detained after school to study pas- sages of scripture, because he had failed to learn his other lessons in due time. I believe this to be bad policy, as well as doubtful religion. The lessons that a child thus learns are always connected in his mind with unnleasant associations. Ilis heart is not made better by truths thus learned. The Bible indeed should be studied by the young, but they should be attractedto it by the spirit of love, rather than driven to it by the 354 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACllIitd Ride no hobbies in teacliing.— A discovery becomes a lioWy. spirit of vindictiveness. They who suppose that chil- dren can be made to love the Bible by being thus driven to the study of it, have sadly mistaken the human heart. 10. Ride no " lioblies '' in teaching. Almost every man, in whatever vocation, has some liobiy, some ^' one idea^\ which he pushes forward on all occasions, no matter what may be the consequences. It is not strange that it is often thus with the teacher. If the teacher has any independence of mind, any originality, he will at some period in his life naturally incline to try some experiments in teaching. Partly on account of the novelty of the plan, and partly on account of the teach- er's interest in the success of his own measure, he finds it works well in the class where it was first tried; and he rejoices that he has made a discovery. Teaching now possesses a new interest for him, and he very likely becomes enthusiastic. He applies his new measure to other classes, and loudly recommends it to other teach- ers. For a time it succeeds and it becomes his Tioliby. Whenever a stranger visits his school he shows oif his new measure. AVhenever he attends a teachers^ meet- ing he describes it, and perhaps presents a class of his pupils to verify its excellency. He abandons his old and long-tried plans, and persists in the new one. By and by the novelty has worn away and his pupils be- come dull under its operation, and reason suggests that iriSOELLANEOUS SU(iGESTIONS 355 Oral Instruction.— Origin of tlie oral mania. a return to the former methods would be advisable. Still, because it is his invention, he persists. Others try the experiment. Some succeed ; some fail. Some of them by a public speech commit themselves to it, and then persist in it to preserve their consistency. In this way a great many objectionable modes of teaching have gained currency and btill hold their sway in many of our schools. Among these I might mention concert recitation, and oral instruction when made a substitute for study. Of the origin and tendency of the former I have spoken more at length in the chaj^ter on " Conducting liecita- tions ". Of the latter a word or two may be said in this place. It was found years ago, in the earlier attempts to teach the blind, that they made very rapid strides in acquiring knowledge through the sole medium of oral instruction. As might have been foreseen, they be- came intensely interested in hearing about things which had surrounded them all their days, but which they had never seen. Shut in as they were from the privi- lege of sight, there was nothing to distract their atten- tion from whatever was communicated to them through the sense of hearing ; and as they had been blind from their birth, this discipline of attention had been going on from infancy. Under these circumstances, their 556 IMEORY AKi) PKACtiCE OS* tEAOfiilNC? Baby-talk !— Great learning !— Extended to Mgher classes. progress in knowledge by mere oral teaching was as- tonishing. This was all well. But soon, some one conceived the idea of substituting oral instruction for study among seeing children. Immediately there was an oral ?nania. Infant schools grew up in every vil- lage, — infant school manuals were prepared, filled with scieiitific haby-talk, for the use of the worthy dames who were to drive the liobhy, and the nineteenth cen- tury bade fair to do more toward lighting up the fires of science than all time before had accomplished ! It was truly wonderful for a time to listen to the learned volubility of these same infant schools. The wonders of astronomy, chemistry, botany, and zoology, with the terms of Cuvier's classification, and a thousand other things, were all detailed with astonishing familiarity by p^ipils under five years of age ! Some eminent teachers sagely took the hint, and adopted the oral system with their older classes. The sciences were taught by lec- tures. The pupils of this happy day had nothing to do but to sit and receive. To be sure sometimes they would become inattentive, and it would be discovered by their teachers that they did not retain quite all that was told to them. This, however, was no fault of the system, it was urged ; the system was well enough, but unfortunately the pupils had eyes, and their attention was frequently diverted by the unlucky use of these MISCELLANEOUS SUGGESTION-S 357 A royal road !— Eyes are useless orbs ! worthless organs. A royal road, sure enough, was found to the temple of science, too long beyond mortal reach by reason of the rugged footpath over which the student was compelled to climb. Happy, glorious day ! No more must toil and thought be the price of success ! No more must the midnight oil be con- sumed, and the brain be puzzled, in search of the wisdom of ages ! No more must the eyes be pained — (they are hereafter to be considered encumbrances) — in searching the classic page ; the ear is to be the easy inlet to the soul ! * * * Such was the lioUij of 1829 to 1831 in our own country. During sixteen years past, those babes of the infant schools have grown into ''young men and maidens", in no way distinguished, after all, unless they have since achieved distinction by actual study. The pupils of those higher schools have obtained whatever they now value in their education mainly by the use of their eyes, notwithstanding at one time their worthy guides would have almost deemed it a blessing to have had their eyes put out. It has been found that God was indeed wise in the bestowment of sight, — and some at least have acknowledged that a method that is well suited to the instruction of those who are blind, because 358 THEOKY AN^D PRACTICE OF TEACHIITG God wiser than men.— OtUer hobbles— Patent methods. it is the only possible one for them, may not be the best for those who can see. At the present time the senti- ment begins to prevail that oral instruction can never supply the place of study ; that the lecturing or ^'pour- ing-in process " cannot long secure the attention ; that the mind by merely receiving, gains no vigor of its own ; and that scholars must be made, if made at all, mainly by their own exertions in the use of books. It would be easy to mention other examples of liohhies which have been ridden by teachers very much to the injury of their schools. Those already given may, how- ever, suffice for the purpose of illustration. Let it be remembered, then, that no one method of instruction comprises all the excellencies and avoids all the defects of good teaching ; and that he is the wisest teacher who introduces a judicious variety into his modes of instruc- tion, profiting by the suggestions of others, but relying mainly upon his own careful observation, eschewing all ^''patent methods", and nevey- losing his common" sense. Under the head of liobiies, I may add one other re- mark. Many teachers have some favo7'ite hranch of study, in which, because they excel, they take special delight. One man is a good mathematician, another an expert accountant, a third a skillful grammarian. Now the danger is that the favorite branch of study jnay become the lioliby, — and that the other branches MISCELLANEOUS SUGGESTIONS 359 Higher branches.— Things to be done.— The scholars' friend. will be neglected. This is indeed not unfrequently the case. Again, some teachers are more interested in the higher branches generally, because they were the last pursued in their college course, or for some other reason. They thoreforo neglect the lower studies to the great detriment of the youth under their charge. Against all such partial views the teacher should take great pains to guard himself. He may fall uncon- sciously and almost imperceptibly into some of these errors. Let me add the caution, then, — Never allow your partiality for one study, or a class of studies, to divert your attention from all those other l>ranches which are necessary to constitute a good education. SECTIOISr II — THINGS TO BE PERFOKMED I. Convince your scholars hy your conduct that you are their friend. It is all-important that you should gain complete ascendency over the minds of your pupils. In no way is this point so successfully gained as by leading them to feel that you are their true friend. When they feel this, all their sentiments of generosity, gratitude, and love, conspire to lead them to render cheerful obedience to your Avishes. Govern- ment then becomes easy ; instruction is no longer irksomo j and you can most cordially respond to the 360 THEORY AIs^D PRACTICE OF TEACHING Delightful task.— Love for scholars,— for teaching,— to he felt. poet, ill that beautiful sentiment too seldom fully realized : — " Delightful tasl: ! to rear the tender thought, And teach the young idea how to shoot, To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind. To breathe the enlivening spirit, and to fix The generous piu-pose in the glowing hreast." But effectually to convince them that you are thus their friend, is not the work of a moment. Words alone can never do it. You may make professions of interest in them, but it is all to no purpose. Your actions, your looks, your whole spirit must show it. In order thus to exhibit it, you must feel a deep, an all-pervading interest in the welfare of every child. You must love your profession, and you must love — sincerely love — those whom you are called to teach. If you do not love the work of teaching, and cannot bring yourself to love the children of your charge, you may not expect success. It was long ago declared that " Love only is the loan for love,"— and this is specially true with the love of children. Their souls spontaneously go out after those who love them. Strive, then, to gain this point with them, not by empty pretensions, always quickly read and as quickly despised by the young ; but by that full, frank, cordial expression of kindness in your manner towards MISCELLANEOUS SUGGESTIONS 361 Care of scliool-house. -Resis t the beglnnings.-Care of books, desks, e tc. them, which, being based upon deep principle in your- self, is sure at once to win their affection and their ready compliance with all your reasonable requisitions. II. Talce smcial care that the scliool-liouse aiid its appendages are Icept in good order. This is a part of every teacher's doty. He should have an eye that is con- stantly on the alert to perceive the smallest beginnings of injury to any part of the premises. It is often painful to see a new schoolhouse that has with much care and expense been put in perfect order, very soon cut and otherwise disfigured by the pupils,— the glass broken, the ceiling soiled, the desks and floors stained with ink, and everything bearing the marks of youthful destructive- ness. The teacher should be held accountable for such results, for he can by proper vigilance prevent them. Some of his first lessons to his pupils should be upon the subject of practical neatness in regard to everything that pertains to the school. They should be impressed with the belief that he holds neatness as a cardinal virtue. Daily should he watch to discover the first violation of propriety upon the premises. This first violation should be promptly met. There is great wisdom in the adage which enjoins us to "resist the degimiings''. So, too, he should exercise an oversight of the books belonging to the pupils. Many books are speedily de- stroyed by children for the want of a little care of the 362 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Rights of property.— American destructlveness.— Whittling. teacher, — probably more than are worn out by use. He should also occasionally inspect the desks with a view to promote a commendable neatness there. The teacher has an undoubted right to inspect any part of the premises, — but by a little adroitness he can interest the children in a reform of this kind, and then they will desire that he should witness their carefulness. I may add further, that the children should not only be taught to respect the school-house and its append- ages, but they should be taught to regard the sacredness of all property either public or private. The neighbor- ing garden or orchard should be held to be inviolable. The teacher may not have the authority to coinjjel compliance with his direction or advice beyond school- hours, but he should endeavor xo exercise a moral influence in the school which will be more powerful even than compulsion. So in regard to public build- ings, such as churches and court-houses ; and all public grounds, as parks, commons, and cemeteries, — the teacher should inculcate not only the duty to abstain from injuring them, but a commendable desire to see them improved and beautified. In America, it is re- marked by foreigners, there is a strange tendency to destructiveness. In our public buildings, the walls are usually disfigured by names and drawings, and even our cemeteries do not escape the violence of the knives MISCELLANEOUS SUGGESTIONS 363 American currency. —Its excellence.— Post-offlce law. of visitors, the trees being cut and marked with names, and the flowers i3lucked off and carried away. It is to be hoped that our teachers will so exercise a reforming influence, that the next generation shall exercise a higher principle as well as a better taste in all these matters, which, small as they are, make up no mean part of the manners and morals of a peo^^le. * III. Teach loth hy iwecept and hy practice the use of the decimal or America'^ currency. It is very much to be regretted that the people in different sections of our country still adhere to the use of the old colonial cur- rency of pounds, shillings, and pence. It is universally admitted that the decimal system of the United States is the most convenient system in the world ; and yet our people, after having adopted and legalized it, and declared everything else illegal in accounts, still treat the system as if it were the worst of all. As the shil- ling differs so much in value in the different States, it is a source of constant perplexity to the traveller to understand in different localities the real value of the sums he hears named. He is obliged to keep up a con- stant process of reduction of currencies in his mind, and after all is liable to be imposed upon. By the recent post-office law all the rates of postage are graduated on the decimal scale. This is a very favorable step towards uniformity. Our teachers should 364 THEORY AI^TD PRACTICE OF TEACHING An error and prejudice.— One country,— one currency. inculcate the adoption of the same system in all matters of business. They should teach the children the evils of the 2)revalent diversity, and endeavor to form the habit in them of tJiinking as well as talking in dollars and cents. To this end all the examples in arithmetic should be made in our own currency ; all practical questions proposed by the teacher should conform to it, — and the teacher, in conversing with his pupils as well as with all others, should not only use the decimal system himself, but insist that they shall use the same in reply to him. I know it is often urged, and especially in the State of New York, that it is easier to reckon in shillings and pence than in dollars and cents. But this, so far as it is true, is because all the prices are graduated by the old currency. Let the prices be graduated by the decimal ratio, and the advantage is decidedly in its favor. Who has ever had the slightest trouble to calculate the amount of his postage dues by the new system ? We have one country, — a great country, — a country characterized by the free interchange of products, and by a constant intercourse of its inhabitants ; we speak mostly one language, and are proud to feel that we are one great people ; — then why not have one, and only ONE currency, equally understood by all, as the law of the land contemplates ? MSCELLAJJ-EOUS SUGGESTION'S 365 General reformation.— Illustration. This subject is worthy of the regard of all teachers throughout the laud^ — and I earnestly call upon them, in all places and at all times, to exert whatever influence they can to bring about a result so desirable. This can be done ; it luill be done ; aiid the sooner it is done the letter. IV. When scholars do lorong, it is sometimes best to withhold v}mnediate reproof, hut to describe a similar case in general instriiction. This is one of the most effectual modes of curing the evil in the wrong-doer himself. It, moreover, gives the teacher a valuable text for a lesson on morals before the whole school. Care should generally be taken not to lead the school to suspect the individual in your mind, while at the same time the parable should so fit the case as to preclude the necessity of saying to the offender, as Nathan did to David : ^"^Thou art the man." A case will illustrate this. I recollect once to have found, among a large number of compositions presented by a class, one that I knew to have been copied. Ko notice was taken of it at the time ; but some days after- wards a case was described to the class, resembling the one that had actually occurred. After exciting con- siderable interest in the case, they were told that such a thing had happened among their own number ; that I did not choose to expose the individual ; but if any of SQ6 THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHINGS A confession.— Accuracy. them thought it would be honorable for them to confess, such an offence to me in case they had committed it, they might seek a jorivate opportunity to do so. In less than twenty-four hours no less than four made such a confession, detailing freely the extent and the circum- stances of their offending. In this way four were re- formed, where by direct reproof only one could have been reached. It was a frank, not a forced confession ; and I was thus easily made to know the extent of this sin in the school. By this simple expedient, I have reason to believe, plagiarism was effectually eradicated for that term at least, in the whole class, and that too without the loss of any pupiFs good will. It is generally wiser to endeavor to reach the evil in its whole extent, than to expend one's strength upon a single instance of wrong doing. The conscience of the whole school may sometimes be profitably aroused, while the particular individual is quite as effectively corrected as he would be by a direct reproof. V. Be accurate. This is necessary in order to secure the respect of your j^upils. What the teacher professes to know he should be sure of. Approximations to the truth are not enough to satisfy the young mind. When- ever a teacher makes a blunder by stating what is not true in regard to any fact or principle in science, any event in history, or any item of statistics, he lowers JilSCELLAHEOUS SUGGESTIONS ^^? Certain knowledge.— Prof. Olmsted.— Pitiable ease. himself very much in the estimation of all those who are capable of detecting his error. If he does not hnoiu he may frankly say so and incur no just censure^ pro- vided the point be one about which he has not had the opportunity to gain the requisite information. But when he attempts to speak with the authority of a teacher^ he '^should know that whereof he affirms." '' The character of the teacher/^ says Professor Olmsted, '' is sullied by frequent mistakes, like that of a book- keeper or banker. It is surprising to see how soon even the youngest learner will lose his confidence and respect for his teacher, when he has detected in him occasional mistakes. At every such discovery he rises in his own estimation, and the teacher proportionally sinks. The very character of the pupil is injured by such an inci- dent. He rapidly loses the docility and modesty so essential to the scholar, and becomes uplifted with pride and self-importance. '^ The superciliousness thus induced becomes a sore vexation to the teacher. He finds that his pupils are watching for his halting, — and he frequently fails, from this very circumstance, to do as well as he might. I know of no more pitiable con- dition on earth than that of a teacher who is attempt- ing to teach what he does not fully understand, while he is conscious that his pupils doubt his. ability from a frequent detection of his mistakes. S6S THi:ORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHINC? A pleasant lace.— A description. VI. Cultivate a pleasant countenance. Frowns and scowls always sit with ill grace upon the teacher^s brow. I know that the trials and perplexities incident to his daily life are eminently fitted ''to chafe his mood'' and to provoke his impatience. I know, too, that protracted confinement from the pure air and the bright sunlight will almost necessarily render the nervous system mor- bidly sensitive, and the temper of course extremely irritable. The outward exponent of all this is a de- jected and perhaps an angry countenance. The eye- brows are drawn up so that the forehead is deeply and prematurely furrowed, while the angles of the mouth are suffered to drop downward as if in token of utter despair. By and by the roguishness of some unlucky urchin disturbs the current of his thoughts, — and sud- denly the brow is firmly knitted with transverse channels, the nostrils are distended, the jaws are firmly closed, the lips are compressed, the cheeks are flushed, and the eyes almost emit sparks from the pent-up fire within him. For the next half-hour he frowns on all about him. The children at first are awed by such a threatening aspect, — but soon they become accustomed to it, and the terrible very naturally gives nlace to the ridiculous. No man has a moral right to render those uncomfort- able who surround him by habitually covering his facq MISCELLANEOUS SUGGESTIONS 3G9 Wrong to frown.— Sympathy between the heart and the countenance. with the looks of discontent and moroseness. It is peculiarly wrong for the teacher to do it. It is for him to present an example of self-government under all cir- cumstances so that be can consistently enforce the duly of self-control upon the young. It is for him to show himself a man of principle, of benevolence, of cheerful devotion to his duty, however full of trials that duty may be ; and in no way can he do this more eltcctually than by an amiable and engaging countenance. A peevish, frowning teacher is very likely to produce petulance and sallenness iu his pupils ; while a cordial smile, like the genial beam of the spring-day sun, not only sheds a welcome light on all around, but imparts a blessed heat which jienetrates the frigidity of the heart, dissipates the cheerless mists that hover there, and warms the generous affections into life and beauty. We ai'e so constituted that the inward and the out- ward sympathize with each other. Solomon says, ^^A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance," — and I may venture to add, and with almost as much truth, a cheerful countenance maketh a merry heart. An honest attempt to bless others with the sight of a countenance that is expressive of content and patience is an act so praiseworthy in itself that it will never go unrewarded. The gratifying response which such a countenance is sure to call forth from others, brings with it a \\q\x ^70 THEORY AND PRACTICE Ot TEACfilJS'G A question.— Yes.— Carlyle.— Means recommended. i-eveiine of inward enjoyment. He, therefore, who habitually bears about with him a sad or an angry countenance, while he constantly impairs the happiness of others, lacks at the same time an important instru- mentality for securing his own. But the question will arise, — can a man gain such ascendency over himself as to control the expression of his countenance ? I answer, without hesitation, Yes. *^ Whatever ought to be done, can be done.^^ It is not perfectly easy to do it, especially for the teacher. Still, self-control — full, complete self-control — is his appro- priate duty as well as privilege. He must, as Carlyle quaintly enjoins, *^' learn to devour the chagrins of his lot.^' He must calculate beforehand that every day will bring its cares and its trials; but he should daily resolve that they shall never take him by surprise, nor betray him into sudden impatience. Each morning as he walks to the scene of his labors, he should fortify himself against sudden anger or habitual moroseness on this wise : ''l^o doubt this day some untoward occur- rence will transpire, calculated to try my patience and to provoke me to fretful words and angry looks. All my past experience leads me to expect this. But this day I will try to resist the temptation to this weakness. I will try to be self-possessed. If any child is vicious, or fretful, or dull, or even impudent, I will endeavor to IriSCfiLLAKEOUB SUGGEStlOKS otl I'll try.— A victory.— Art of illustrating,— illustrated. show that I can command myself. If I feel some angry passion enkindling within me, I will stop and tliink, and I will endeavor to smile before I speak. If I can to-day gain the victory over impatience, and can main- tain an even and cheerful temper, and express it constantly in my countenance, it will be easier to do it to-morrow. At all events, Fll tnj.'' Taking hold thus in earnest, any man may soon be his own master. He can gain the victory. If he can do it, he ought to do it. Hence I urge it as a duty. Nor is it merely a duty. It is a high privilege. A complete victory for a single day will bring its own reward. A man who feels that he has risen above his temptation can return to his rest with a light and happy heart. Sleep to him will be sweet, and he will arise on the morrow with renewed strength for the fresh con- flict,— and in the moral as well as in the literal warfare, every contest which ends in victory gives additional strength to the victor, while it weakens and disheartens his enemy. YII. Stiichj to acquire the art of aptly illustrating a difficult subject. Some teachers content themselves with answering in the precise language of the book whenever a question for information is propounded. This however is by no means sufficient, even when the language of the book is strictly accurate; much less S73 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHiJ^a Lesson in pliilosopliy.— Media. wheii the language is so vague as to convey no definite idea to the mind either of the learner or the teacher. On the other hand, a man who is apt to teacli will devise some ingenious method of enlightening the mind of his pupil, so that he shall lay hold of the idea as with a manly grasp, and make it his own forever. This point will, perhaps, be best illustrated by an example. A young man was employed to take charge of a school for a few days during a temporary illness of the regular instructor. He was a good scholar, as the world would say, and was really desirous to answer the expectation of his employers. After the regular teacher had so far recovered his health as to be able to leave his room, he walked one pleasant day to the school to see what success attended the labors of the new incumbent. A class was reciting in natural philosophy. The sub- ject under consideration was — the obstacles whicli impede the motion of machinery. The attraction of gravity, as one of these, was pretty easily disposed of ; for the class had before been instructed on that point. Friction came next. Here, too, the pupils, having had some practical exj3erience of their own, in dragging their sleds, in skating, or perhaps in turning a grind- stone, found no great difficulty. The book spoke a language sufficiently clear to be understood. Next came the '^resistance of the various media", to use the MISCELLANEOUS SUGGESTIONS 373 A puzzle.— Further doubts. language of the text-book. "Yes/' said the teacher, as one of the pupils gravely quoted this language ^'that has no inconsiderable effect." '^The 'resistance of the various media ^ ? "" — repeated one of the boys inquiringly, "1 do not know as I un- derstand what media means." "A medium is that in which a body moves," was the ready reply which the teacher read from the book. Pupil. " A medium ? " Teacher. " Yes ; we say mediuyn when we mean but one, and media when we mean more than one." Pupil. " When we mean but one ? " Teacher. ''•'Yes; medium is singular — media is plural." After this discussion, which began in philosophy but ended in grammar, the teacher was about to proceed with the next question of the book. But the scholar was not yet satisfied, and he ventured to press his inquiries a little further. PupiL " Is this room a medium ?" Teacher. ''This room?" Pupil. " Yes sir ; you said that a medium was ' that in which anybody moves,' and we all move in tliis room." Teacher. " Yes, but medium does not mean a room ; it is the substance in which a body moves." Here the lad looked perplexed and unsatisfied. He 374 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEAC3IKG An interposition.— A smile. had no clear idea of the meaning of this new term. The teacher looked at his watch and then glanced at the remaining pages of the lesson and seemed im- patient to proceed, — so the pupil forbore to inquire further. The regular teacher, who had listened to the discus- sion with no ordinary interest, both because he admired the inquisitiveness of the boy, and because he was curious to discover how far the new incumbent pos- sessed the power of illustration, here interposed. ^^John,^^ — taking his watch in his hand — ^^ would this watch continue to go if I should drop it into a pail of water ? '^ *^I should think it would not long,^^ said John, after a little reflection. ^'^ Why not?'' said his teacher, as he opened his watch. ^^ Because the water would get round the wheels and stop it, 1 should think," said John. ^' How would it be if I should drop it into a quart of molasses ? " The boys laughed. '^'^ Or into a barrel of tar ?^* The boys still smiled. '^^ Suppose I should force it, while open, into a quantity of lard.'' MISCELLANEOUS SUGGESTIONS 375 Light breaks in.— The class proceed.— The difference. Here the boys laughed heartily, while Joliii said, '^ The watch would not go in any of these articles/' ^' Articles f " said his teacher, " why not say media f " John's eye glistened as he caught the idea. ^^ 0, I understand it now." His teacher then said that many machines worked in air, — then the air was the medium. A fish swims in water, — water is his medium. A fish could hardly swim in molasses or tar. " Now,"' inquired he, " why not V ^^ Because of the resistance of the medium,^' said John, with a look of satisfaction. '^^Now why will the watch go in air and not in water ? " " Because the water is more dense,'' said John promptly. '^ Then upon what does the resistance of a medium depend ?" Here the wqw teacher interposed and said that was the next question in the book, and he was just going to ask it himself. The regular teacher put his watch into his pocket and became a spectator again, and the lesson proceeded with unwonted vivacity. The dif- ference between these two teachers mainly consisted in the fact that one had the ingenuity to devise an expedient to meet a difficulty whenever occasion re- quired, — the other had not. 376 THEORY AND PEACTICE OF TEACHING Study expedients.— A moral impression.— Set lessons not useful. Now in order to teach well a man should diligently seek for expedients. He should endeavor to foresee the very points where the learner will stumble, and pro- vide himself with the means of rendering timely aid. If an object cannot be described in words, let it be compared with what it resembles, or with what it con- trasts. If it be an object of sense, and words and com- parisons fail to describe it, — in ^ne absence of apparatus to represent it, let the teacher spring to the black board and execute a hasty drawing of it. In this way the construction or the working of a machine, the form of a bone or the action of a joint, the shape of a town or the plan of a building, — in short, almost every subject that involves the relations of form, size, proportion, quantity, or number, will admit of visible illustration. He is the successful teacher who is able at the moment to seize upon the best expedient, and render it subser- vient to his purpose. VIII. Tahe advantage of unusual occurrences to make a moral or religious impression. In a former chapter I have urged it as a part of the teacher^s work to cul- tivate and strengthen both the moral sentiments and the religious feelings of the members of his school. This is not most effectually done by a formal mode of speak- ing to them on these subjects. If a particular hour is set apart for formal lectures on their duty to their fel- MISCELLANEOUS SUGGESTIONS 377 Tlie fit occasion.— Example I. low-men and their obligations to God, they are very apt to fortify their sensibilities against the most faithful appeals, and thus render them powerless. The wise teacher will watch for the fit opportunity, and, just at the moment when the heart is prepared by some suit- able occurrence, — when by some exhibition of the Creator's power it is awed into reverence or softened into submission ; or by some display of his goodness it is warmed into gratitude or animated with delight, — with a few words, seasonably and " fitly spoken ", he fixes the impression forever. Speaking at the right time, every ear listens, and every heart feels. Perhaps many of my readers can revert to some season in their childhood, endeared to them by a precious recollection of golden words thus opportunely uttered, words fraught with truth which in after-life has had an unspeakable influence in tiie formation of their character. One or two examples connected with my own experience may be presented more fully to illus- trate my meaning ; while at the same time they may afford, it is hoped, some valuable hints for the encour- agement and guidance of such young teachers as desire in this way to make themselves the instruments of last- ing benefit to the young. Example I. — I can never forget— nor would I if I could— a lesson impressed upon my own youthful mind. 378 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING A thunder-storm. —Alarm. —Confusion. conveying the truth that we Jire constantly dependent upon our Heavenly Father for protection. In a plain country school-house some twenty-five children, in- cluding myself, were assembled with our teacher on the afternoon of a summer's day. We had been as happy and as thoughtless as the sportive lambs that cropped the clover of the neighboring hill-side. Engrossed with study or play, — for at this distance of time it is impos- sible to tell which, — we had not noticed the low rumbling of the distant thunder till a sudden flash of lightning arrested our attention. Immediately the sun was veiled by the cloud, and a corresponding gloom settled upon every face within. The elder girls with the characteristic thoughtfulness of woman hastily inquired whether they should not make the attempt to lead their younger brothers and sisters to the paternal roof before the bursting of the storm. For a moment our little community was thrown into utter confusion. The teacher stepped hastily to the door to survey more perfectly the aspect of the western heavens. Imme- diately returning he signified to the children that there would not be time for them to reach their homes before the tempest would be upon them. Oppressed with dread, — for it is no uncommon thing for children in the country to be terrified by lightning, — some of the youngest of us clung to our older brothers or sisters. MISCELLANEOUS SUGGESTIOISrS 379 Teacher's self-possession.— A fearful tempest.— Awful pause. while others, being the sole representatives of their family in the school, for the first time felt their utter loneliness in the midst of strangers, and gave utterance to their feelings in audible sighs or unequivocal sobs. The teacher, meanwhile, with an exemplary calmness and self-possession, closed the windows and the doors and then seated himself quite near the younger pupils, to await the result. The thick darkness gathered about us as if to make the glare of the lightning by contrast more startling to our vision ; while the loud thunder almost instantly followed, as it were the voice of God. The wind howled through the branches of a venerable tree near by, bending its sturdy trunk and threatening to break asunder the cords which bound it to its mother earth. An angry gust assailed the humble building where we were sheltered ; it roared down the capacious chimney, violently closed a shutter that lacked a fastening, breaking the glass by its concussion, and almost forced in the frail window-sashes on the westerly side of the room. Quicker and more wild the lightnings glared — flash after flash — as if the heavens were on fire ; louder and nearer the thunder broke above our heads, while the inmates of the room, save the teacher, were pale with terror. At this moment tliere was a sudden cessation of the war of elements, — a hush — almost a proplietic pause ! 380 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Teacher's words.— Rain.— Sunshine. It was that brief interval which precedes the falling torrent. A dread stillness reigned within the room. Every heart beat hurriedly, and every countenance told the consternation that was reigning within. It was an awful moment ! With a calm voice, breathing a subdued and confiding sj^irit, the teacher improved this ojiportunity to impress uj^on our young minds a great truth. '' Fear not, children," said he, ''it is your Heavenly Father that sends the storm as well as the sunshine and the gentle breeze. You have been just as much in his power all day as you are at this moment. He has been as near you, supporting you, supplying you with breath, with life, all through the pleasant morning ; but then you did not see him. He is just as able to protect you now, for 'Not a sparrow falls to the ground without his notice,^ — and he ruleth the storm and ' rideth ujoon the wings of the wind.' We should ever feel willing to trust him ; for he is ever able to grant us deliverance from all our dangers. God is here now to protect us."*' Just as he had finished these words the rain began to fall. First the drops were few and scattered ; but soon the windows of heaven were opened and the thirsty ground was abundantly satisfied. The sound of the thunder became fainter and fainter as the cloud passed away ; the sun burst out again in renewed splendor ; iirSCELLANEOUS SUGGESTIOXS 381 Bright faces.— The Bible speaks. the full drops glittered in his beams upon the grass ; the bii'ds began their songs ; the rainbow spanned the eastern hills ; and our hearts, taught by the timely in- struction of a good man, began to expand with eager gratitude for our nreservation by the hand of our Heavenly Father. The remainder of the afternoon passed happily away, and when our books were laid aside and we were ready to burst out of the room to enjoy the refreshing air and participate in the general joy, the teacher, taking the Bible from the desk, asked us to remain quiet a mo- ment while he would read a few Avords that he hoped we should never forget. The passage was the following, from the Goth Psalm : — By terrible tliinri'S in rig-liteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our sal- vation ; who art tlie confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea. Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains ; being girded with power : which stilleth the noise of the seas, ■ the noise cf their waves, and the tumult of the people. They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afi'aid at thy tokens: thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice. Thou visitest the earth and waterest it : thou greatly'enrichest it with the river of God, which is f;iU cf water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. Thou waterest tlie ridges thereof abundantly : thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest it soft with shOAvers: thou blessest the springing thereof. Tho\i crownest the year with thy goodness ; and tliy paths drop fatness. oSi THEORY AKJ; PRACTICE OF TEACHING Words ntly spoken.— The effect. They drop upon tlie pastures cf the wilderness : and the little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed with flocks ; the valleys also are covered over with corn ; they shout for joy, they also sing-. After closing the book tlie teacher said; ^'^ Go out now, children, and witness how perfectly these words have been fulfilled toward ns this afternoon, — and from this day's mercies, learn hereafter to trust God as con- fidently in the storm, when he displays his power by his outward ^tokens', as when he kindly smiles upon you in the beams of the glorious sun, or gently breathes upon you in the morning breeze/' We went forth bounding in gladness and gratitude and saw the ^^ outgoings of the evening to rejoice", — ^^the pastures clothed with flocks", — ^'the valleys cov- ered over with corn ", — '^ the little hills rejoicing on every side"; — we heard also the general shout for joy, — and we felt as we never before had felt, a deep, thorough, abiding conviction of the truth that God is our father and our friend ; the God of our SALVATiOiq'. I know not how soon these impressions faded from the minds of the other children, — but for myself I can say, that from that time to the present, whenever I have been exposed to apparent danger from the im- pending tempest, the warring elements, or the ravages of disease^ the teachings of that hour have always re- M:tscELLAN"Eous sirG(5i:sTloKg 08^ Blessed memories.— Example II.— A dark day.— Lull of the storm. vived in my mind to soothe my troubled spirit and to reassure my faith and confidence in the presence of an all-sufficient and merciful Preserver. A thousand times have I devoutly blessed the memory of that faithful teacher, for having so early and so happily turned my thoughts upward to Him in whom '* we live, and move, and have our being." Example II. — It was in the afternoon of a gloomy day in the latter part of November, when the pupils, consisting of some fifty boys belonging to a school in a pleasant seaport town in New England, were told by their teaclier a few minutes before the usual hour that they might lay aside their studies and prepare for dis. mission. During the early part of the day there had been one of those violent southeast rain-storms so com- mon upon the seacoast at that season of the year. It is well known to the observing mariner that a storm from the southeast never continues beyond twelve or fifteen hours ; and when the violence of the storm abates it is a common remark of the sailor that '' The northwester iti not long in debt to the southeaster." Previous to this change of wind, however, there is what is expressively termed the ^^lull of the storm", — a period when the rain ceases to fall, the wind dies away to a perfect calm, the barometer is suddenly depressed, the clouds hover almost upon the face of the earth. 384 THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHING Change of wind.— Early dismission. shutting out the light of the sun, and causing a cheer- less damp to settle upon everything terrestrial, and a dreai-y gloom to enshroud the mind itself. AVhen the wind changes these clouds are not gradually dissolved and broken up, so that the eye can catch transient glimpses of the blue sky beyond, as after a snow-storm in winter ; but the dark drapery is suddenly lifted up as if by an unseen hand, and the western sky, from the horizon upwards, is left more bright and more charm- ing than ever to refresh the eye and reanimate the soul. It was such a day as before remai'ked when the pupils of this school — partly because of the darkness in the schoolroom, and partly because of their pro- tracted confinement within a close apartment during a gloomy afternoon — were a little earlier than usual about to be dismissed. The pupils all secerned to wel- come the happy release that awaited them, — and in their eagerness to escape from confinement they very naturally neglected to observe their accustomed regard for quiet and order in laying aside their books. It was, however, a fixed habit with the teacher never to give the signal for leaving the room till all the pupils had taken the proper attitude for passing out with reg- ularity, and then had composed themselves to perfect silence. On this occasion perhaps two minutes passed MISCELLANEOUS SUGGESTIONS 385 Impatience.— Light breaks in.— Tlie " g-arment of praise."— Song-. away while the boys were gradually^ almost impa- tiently, bringing themselves to a compliance with this rule of the teacher. During this interval of waiting, the cloud, unper- ceived by the teacher, had been slowly raised up from the western horizon, just in time -to allow the setting sun to bestow a farewell glance upon the sorrowing world at his leave-taking. Through the Venetian blinds that guarded the windows toward the west, the celestial light gleamed athwart the appartment, and painted the opposite wall in front of the pupils with streaks of burnished gold ! In an instant every coun- tenance was changed. A smile now joyously played where before sadness and discontent had held their moody reign. The teacher was reminded by all these circumstances of the beautiful language of the prophet, which promised the gift of ^^the garment of pi^aise for the spirit of heaviness". What could be more appro- priate on this occasion than a song of praise? Without speaking a single word, the teacher commenced one of the little songs already familiar to the whole school Lo tlie heavens are breaking Pure and briglit above ; Life and liglit awaking. Murmur— (tO(Z is love. God is love. SS6 THEdtlY AND PRACTICE OF TEACfilN(J Singing with tlie spli-it.— An imprf sslon.— Gort is good. Round yon pine-clad mountain, FIOAvs a golden flood ; Hear the sparkling fountain, Whisper— GofZ is gooch God is good. Wake, my heart, and springing Spread thy wings above,— Soaring still and singing, God is ever good. God is good. Instantly every voice that had ever sung now uttered heartfelt praise. The attendant circumstances, taken at the happy moment, furnished such an impressive commentary upon the import of the words that they were felt, as they never before had been felt, to be the words of precious truth. Every heart throbbed in unison with the sentiment. At the close of the song there was profound silence in the room. After a mementos pause, during which the truth that God is good seemed to pervade each mind and hold it in silent reverence, — the signal for departure was given. One after another the boys passed from their seats with a light and careful step, as if noise and haste would be a desecration both of the time and place, — and when they reached the open air, refreshing and exhilarating as it was, there was no boisterous shout, no rude mirth ; each took his homeward course, apparently with a new and lively conviction that God is good. iriSCELtAiq'EOUS SUGGESTIONS 'M7 other occasions. It has always been a source of pleasure to that teacher to recall from the ''buried past ^' the associations con- nected with that delightful hour and that charming song ; and it has been among the most gratifying inci- dents of his experience as a teacher to hear more than one of those pupils in later life recur to the memory of that day, and acknowledge with thankfulness the last- ing impressions which then and there were made upon their minds. It would be easy to furnish examples to almost any extent of the manner in which this principle has been or may be carried out in practice. The degradation of an intoxicated person who may pass the school, — the pitiable condition of the man who may wander through the streets bereft of his reason, — any instance of sudden death in the neighborhood, particularly of a young per- son, — the passing of a funeral procession, — in short, any occurrence that arrests the attention of the young and enlists their feeling, may be seized upon as the means of making upon their minds an impression for good. The facts developed in many of their lessons, too, afford opportunities for incidental moral instruc- tion. The adaptation of means to ends, — the evidence of design and intelligence displayed in the works of 2(88 tlfEORY AiiD PRACTICE OF TEACiHHGr Teaclier's satisfaction.— Pleasant retrospection. creation, — the existence of constant and nniform laws as developed in the sciences, all furnish the means of leading the young mind to God. That teacher will enjoy the richest satisfaction in the evening of life, who, in looking back upon his past experience, shall be conscious that he has improved every opportunity which God has given him to turn the youthful affections away from the things of earth to seek a worthier object in things above. CHAPTER X THE REWARDS OF THE TEACHER IT is proverbial that the jjectmiary compensation of the teacher is, in most places, far below the proper standard. It is very much to be regretted that an em- ployment so important in all its bearings should be so poorly rewarded. In New England there are many young women who, having spent some time in teaching, have left that occupation to go into the large manufac- turing establishments as laborers, simply because they could receive a higher compensation. I have known several instances in which young ladies in humble circumstances have left teaching to become domestics, thus performing the most ordinary manual labor be- cause they could receive better pay ; that is, the farm- ers and mechanics of the district could afford to pay more liberally for washing and ironing, for making butter and cheese, for sweeping floors and cleaning paint, than they could for educating the immortal minds of their children ! Nor is this confined to the female sex. Young mechanics and farmers, as well as those employed in mi^uufacturing, frequently receive higher wages than (389) 390 THEORY AN^D PRACTICE OF TEACHING Driving pegs.— Injustice.— Extra expense. the common-school teacher in the same district. Many a young man who has only genius enough to drive the pegs of a shoe in a regular row, and skill enough to black the surface of the article when it is completed, having spent but a few weeks in learning his trade, receives more money for his work than he who, after having spent months, or even years, in gaining the requisite qualifications, labors to polish that nobler material, the human soul. The injustice of this becomes more apparent when we bear in mind that public opinion demands, and justly too, that the teacher should be not only gentle- manly in his manners, but better clad than the mere laborer, — thus throwing upon him a greater burden without affording him the means of sustaining it. The female teacher of a district school, in order to be re- spectable, must be much more expensively dressed than the domestic in the family where she boards ; and is thus compelled to consume most of her receipts upon her wardrobe, — while the domestic is able to place sur- plus money at interest in the Savings Bank. This injustice has so often been laid before the people, and yet has been so long continued, that many have given up in despair, and abandoned an employment that has yielded so little, choosing rather to engage in that lower service which is so much better paid. THE REWARDS OF THE TEACHER 391 Living by wits.— Improvement. This sufficiently explains why so many unqualified teachers have been found in our common schools. Men of talents and ability being tempted to other employ- ments have left the field unoccupied ; and those men who have failed to gain a comfortable living by their hands have been allowed to try the experiment of supporting life hy their tvits, — that is, by becoming teachers ! Such has been the case for a long time past ; and, though in many quarters the peo23le are beginning to open their eyes to their true interest/ and are gradually and commendably coming up to their duty, yet for some time to come the pecuniary compensation will not constitute the chief reward of the teacher. If he will go cheerfully to his work, and find his daily enjoyment in his daily toil, he must have a higher object, some more elevating, inspiring motive, than mere money- getting. The chief encouragements of the faithful teacher lie in another direction. It is the objects of the following paragraphs to point out some of these encouragements ; for, having in the preceding pages required very much at his hands, I feel that it is but just that he should be invited to look at the brighter side of the picture, so that when he is ready to sink under the responsibilities of his position, or to yield to the obstacles that oppose his progress, he 392 THEORY AND PKACTICE OF TEACHING Means of mental growth.— Means of moral growth. may have something to animate his soul and to nerve him anew for the noble conflict. I. Tlie teachcr^s employment affords the means of m- tellectual growth. If a man teaches as he should teach he must of necessity improve himself. Teaching, un- derstand ingiy pursued, gives accuracy. I know it is possible for a man to be a mere schoolmaster — 2^> 'peda- gogue, without any self-improvement. But I am speak- ing of the faithful, devoted teacher, — the man who studies, reflects, invents. Such a man learns more than his pupils. Every time he takes a class through any branch of study, he does it more skilfully, more thor- oughly than before. He brings some fresh illustration of it, presents some new view of it, and hence takes a lively interest in it himself, and awakens a new zeal among his pupils. Measuring himself by his new suc- cess, he feels a consciousness of growth, of progress. This consciousness is a precious reward. II. The teacher's employment affords the means of moral growth. Brought constantly in contact with those who need a careful guidance, he feels impelled to earnest effort in order to obtain the mastery over him- self as the best means of gaining complete influence over others. Studying the weak points in their char- acter, he is constantly reminded of those in his own ; and self-knowledge is the first step toward self-improve- THE KEVVARDS OF THE TEACHER 393 Illustrated.— Moral power. ment. Beginning in the feebleness of inexperience, he bolsters np his anthority at first by a freqnent resort to force ; but as he goes on he finds himself gradu- ally gaining such ascendency over the vicious as to control them quite as effectually by milder means. At first, easily excited to anger or impatience, he frequently indulged in severe language when it was unnecessary, — but by careful discipline he has learned to '^set a watch before his mouth and to keep the door of his lips^\ Encouraged by one victory over himself he is prepared for another. Having learjied by self- discipline to control his outward acts, he next attempts the mastery of his thoughts. He soon finds that his moral power over others is very much increased. Somehow — though perhaps he cannot yet tell the reason why — he finds he can secure obedience with half the effort formerly required, — he gains the love of his pupils more readily, — and with the exception now and then of an extreme case, he finds that he excites a deeper interest than ever before in the whole round of duty among the scholars. Why is this ? lie asks, — and the consciousness of increased moral i^oioer rising up within him is a source of the highest satisfaction. Pecuniary emolument sinks into nothing considered as a reward when compared with a conscious victory over himself. 394 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Progress In the art of teaching.— Pupils' growth of mind. III. A consciousness of wiprovement in the art of teaching is another reward. Such improvement will follow as a matter of course from his self-improvement in the particulars just named. As his own mind ex- pands he feels a new impulse to exert himself to interest others in the subjects he teaches. He soon comes to look upon the Avork of instruction, not as a mere mechanical business to be done in a formal way, but as a noble art based upon certain great principles that are capable of being understood and applied. He employs all his ingenuity to discover the natural order of pre- senting truth to the mind, — to ascertain the precise degree of aid the learner needs, and the point where the teacher should stop. He studies carefully the proper motives to be presented as incentives to exertion. Interested in his labor as a great work, looking upon his influence as telling upon all future time, he devotes himself daily with new zeal, and is reioardecl with the consciousness of new success. IV. The teacher is 2^ermitted also to witness the con- stant groiuth of mind among his piqxils. I say constant, because the teacher is not obliged to labor without see- ing immediate results. The minister of religion may sometimes sow the seed of the good word, while the fruit does not appear for a long season. Sometimes a spiritual apathy prevails, so that the most faithful warn- THE REWARDS OF THE TEACHER 395 Immediate results. ings and the most earnest appeals seem to fall jDOwerless upon the conscience ; and he is led almost to despair of ever being able to break' the deathlike slumber. It is not thus with the teacher. His labor tells immediately Upon the young mind. Even while he is yet sjjeaking he is gratified with observing the souFs expansion as it grasj^s and assimilates some new idea which he pre- sents. From day to day, as he meets his classes, he ■sees how they go on from strength to strength, — at first, indeed, with the halting, tottering step of the feeble babe, but soon with the firm and confident tread of the vigorous youth. A teacher who is for several years employed in his vocation is often astonished at the rapidity with which the young, who come to him as mere children, grow into men and women, and take their places on the stage of life as prominent actors. Some of them distinguish themselves in the arts ; some become noted for their attainments in science ; some receive the honors of office and become leaders in civil affairs ; some gain eminence as professional men ; and very likely a large portion of them are engaged in the various departments of honorable industry. Wherever they are, and what- ever they are, they are now exerting a powerful influence in the community. They have grown up under his eye, and have been essentially shaped by his plastic 396 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING " They were my pupils."— Useful calling-.— Professor Agnew. hand. He looks upon them almost with the interest and pride of a father. He counts them as his jewels ; and when he hears of their snccesS;, their usefulness, and their honors, his heart leaps witliin him, as he thinks, " Tlicy weremy piqnls/' Even though he may have wasted the strength of his best days in the service, tvliat a reward is f his for ilie icaclicv ! V. The ieaclier has ihe consciousness of heing engaged 171 a useful and Itonorahle calling. What though he ma}' not become rich in this world's goods ? .Who would not 2^i'<3fer above houses and lands, — infinitely above all the wealth of earth, tl:e consciousness of be- ing engaged in a work of usefulness ? Man was made for usefulness, — and who would not desire to answer the design of his creation ? My pen is too feeble to attempt to portray tlie useful- ness of the faithful teacher. He educates the immortal mind, — wakes it to thought, — trains it to discipline — self-discipline, — moves it to truth and virtue, — fills it with longings for a more perfect state, and sends it forth to exert its power for good thi'ough all coming time ! ^' To this end, ^' in the glowing language of Professor Agnew, ^'he communicates a knowledge of letters, opens out gradually before the child the book of nature and the literature of the world ; he disciplines his mind and teaches him how to gather knowledge from every 'THE REWARDS OF THE TEACHER; 397 Educates tlie mind.— Trains tiie affections.— Tlie infant becomes a man. source ; he endeavors to impart quickness and reten- tiveness of memory, to cultivate a refined and well- regulated imagination, to task and thus to give vigor to his reasoning powers. He points out the appropriate objects of the several affections, and the proper exercise of the passions ; he gives lessons to conscience derived from the pure fountain of God's own revelation, and teaches him to subject his own will to the Highest Will. He instructs him in the various sciences and thus displays before him worlds of wondrous interest, and invests him with the sources and means of pure enjoyment. He trains him for the sweet sympathies of social life ; and unfolds before him the high behests of duty — duty to himself, his fellow-creatures, his family, his God. *^ Under such a tuition behold the helpless infant grown to manhood's pr-ime, — a body well developed, strong, and active ; a mind symmetrically unfolded, and powers of intellection closely allied to those of the spirits in celestial spheres. He becomes a husband and a father ; in these and in all the relations of life he per- forms well his part. Above all, he is a Christian, with well-trained affections and a tender conscience, supremely loving God, maintaining a constant warfare with the world, the flesh, and the devil, — growing up into the stature of a perfect man in Christ, and antici- 398 tHEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHIKG A transit.— No limits to usefulness.— Honorable.— Wliy ? pating the fullness of joy and pleasure for evermore which are at God's right hand. The time of his de- parture at length arrives; he has fought the good fight, he has finished his course, and he goes to obtain his crown and to attune his harp, and forever to dwell on the hills of light and love, where angels gather immor- tality. Oh, what a transit ; from the dependent help- lessness of infancy to the glory of a seraph ; from mind scarcely manifested, to mind ranging over the immensity of Jehovah's empire, and rising in the loftiest exercises of reason and affection ! And how much has the faith- ful teacher had to do in fitting him for the blissful man- sions of the shies ! " If such be the teacher's work, where is the limit to his usefulness ? Yet he may do this not for one merely, but for scores, or even hundreds. Eternity alone can display the immeasurable, inconceivable usefulness of one devoted teacher. And is not the teacher's calling honorable 9 It is, — for its usefulness makes it honorable. To scatter the light of truth is always honorable. So some of the greatest and best men the world ever saw have believed, and have illustrated their faith by their practice. Con- fucius, Socrates, Seneca, Aristotle, and Plato were specimens of the teachers of ancient date. Roger Ascham, John Milton, Francke, Pestalozzi, Arnold, THE REWARDS OF THE TEACHER S99 Our great men began as teachers.— Gratitude of pupils. and a host of otherS;, have adorned the profession in later times. Yet these are men who have taught the world to think. Their works live after them. — and will continue to live, when the proud fame of the mighty- warriors who have marked their course in blood shall have perished from the earth. If it were necessary and not invidious, how many distinguished men in our own country could be men- tioned who have been teachers of the young, or who are still engaged as such. Besides those who have made teaching the business of their lives, how many have been temporarily employed in this calling. Some of our presidents, many of our governors, most of our jurists and divines, — indeed, some of every profession, ^' and of the chief women not a /ew"' — have first dis- tinguished themselves as school-teachers. Well may teachers, then, regard their profession as an honorable one; always remembering, however, that ^^It is not the position which makes the man honorable, but the man the position. ^^ VI. Tlie teacher enjoys the grateful rememhrance of Ms pupils a7id of their friends. When a distinguished writer said, '^ God be thanked for the gift of mothers and school masters, '' he expressed but the common sen- timent of the human heart. The name of parent justly enkindles the warmest emotions in the heart of him 400 THEORY AKD PllACTlCE OF tE ACHING Gratitude to parents first. who has gone out from his native home to engage in the busy scenes of the work-day world ; and when sometimes he retires from the companionship of new- made friends to recall the picture of the past and the loved of other days, — to think " 01 childish joys, wlien hounding boyhood Icnew No grief, but chased the gorgeous butterfly And gambold witli the breeze, that tossed about His silken curls—" how sweetly do the gentle influences of home and child- hood, with all their tender and hallowed associations, come stealing over the soul ! The world is forgotten ; care may not intrude upon this sacred hour ; objects of sense are unheeded ; the call to pleasure is disre- garded ; — while the rapt soul, introverted — transported — dwells with unspeakable delight upon its consecrated recollection of all that is venerable, all that is sacred in the name of parent. At this favored hour, how the heart swells at the thought of a mother's love ! The smiles, the kind words, the sympathy, the counsels, the prayers, the tears, — how fondly the memory treasures them all up, and claims them for its own ! And though Death may have long since intruded, and con- signed that gentle form to the cold earth, rudely sundering the cherished bonds of affection, and leaving the hearth- stone desolate, — though change may have THET REWARDS OF THE TEACHER 401 A devoted mother.— Teacher next to the parent. brought strangers to fell the favorite tree, to remove the ancient landmarks, to lay waste the pleasant places, and even to tread thoughtlessly by the humble mound that marks the revered spot where ^'departed worth is laid," — though Time, 'Svitli his effacing fingers," may have been busy in obliterating the impressions of child- hood from the mind, or in burying them deeply beneath the rubbish of perplexing cares, — still the true heart never tires with the thought of a fond parent, nor ever ceases to '' thank God upon every remembrance " of a pious, devoted mother ! Thus it should ever be. Nothing on earth should be allowed to claim the gratitude which is justly due to judicious parents. But the faithful, devoted teacher, the former of youthful character and the guide of youthful study, will be sure to have the next place in the grateful heart. AVhether the young man treads the deck of the noble ship in his lonely watch as she proudly walks the waters by night, — or journeys among strangers in foreign lands ; — wherever he goes, or how- ever employed, — as often as his thoughts revisit the scenes of his childhood, and dwell with interest upon the events that marked his youthful progress, he will recur to the old familiar schoolhouse, call up its well remembered incidents — its joys and its sorrows — its trials and its triumphs — its all-pervading and ever- 402 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEAOfilKG Gratitude of parents.— Example. abiding influences, and devoutly thank God for the gift of ii faithful, self denying , ^patient teacher. But the teacher is rewarded also by the gratitude of parents and friends. Some of the sweetest moments a teacher ever experiences are those when a parent takes him by the hand, and with cordial sincerity and deep emotion thanks him for what he has done for his child. It may have been a wayward, thoughtless, perhaps a vicious boy, wdiom kind words and a warm heart on the part of the teacher have won back to the path of rectitude and virtue. I have seen an old lady — and I shall never forget the sight — bending under the infirmities of age, — blind, and yet dependent mainly upon her labor for support, in- voking the richest of heaven's blessings upon the head of a teacher who, by kindness and perseverance, had won back her wayward grandson to obedience and duty. How her full soul labored as she described the change that had taken place ! Her emotion — too deep for utterance in words — found expression only in tears that streamed from her sightless eyes ! She felt that her boy was again a child of hope and promise, and that he might yet be a virtuous and a useful man. The world may raise its empty acclamation to honor the man of powder and of fame, — it may applaud the states- man and weave the chaplet for the conqueror's brow ; tHE REWARDS OF THiJ TEACllER Widow's g-ratitude.— Approval of Heaven.— The Great Teaelier. — but the teacher, humble and obscure though he may be, who is the object of the widow's gratitude for being the orphan's friend, with the consciousness of deserving it, is a happier, I had almost said a greater man. Surely he receives a greater reward. VII. The faithful teacher enjoys the approval of Heaven. He is employed, if he has a right spirit, in a heavenly mission. He is doing his Heavenly Father's business. That man should be made wiser and happier, is the will of Heaven. To this end, the Son of God — The Great Teacher — came to bless our race. So far as the schoolmaster has the spirit of Jesus, he is engaged in the same great work. Heaven regards with com- placency the humble efforts of the faithful teacher to raise his fellow-beings from the darkness of ignorance and the slavery of superstition ; and if a more glorious crown is held in reserve for one rather than another, it is for him who, uncheered by worldly applause, and without the prospect of adequate reward from his fellow-men, cheerfully practises the self-denial of his master, spending his strength, and doing with diligence and patience '^ whatsoever his hand findeth to do ", towards raising his fellow-beings to happiness and heaven. It is such a teacher that the eloquent and gifted Lord Brougham describes in the following beautiful language : 404 TllEdllV AND tRACTlCEl Oi' TfiACJltNG An epitaph.— Cease repining. *^IIe meditates and prepares, in secret, the plans which are to bless mankind ; he slowly gathers around him those who are to further their execution, — he quietly, though firmly, advances in his humble path, laboring steadily, but calmly, till he has opened to the light all the recesses of ignorance, and torn up by the roots the weeds of vice. His progress is not to be compared with anything like the march of the con- queror, — but it leads to a far more brilliant triumph, and to laurels more imperishable than the destroyer of his species, the scourge of the world, ever won. Each one of these great teachers of the world, possessing his soul in peace, performs his appointed course, awaits in patience the fulfilment of the promises, and, resting from his labors, bequeaths his memory to the genera- tion whom his works have blessed, and sleeps under the humble, but not inglorious epitaph, commemorating ' ojie in wJiom mankind lost a friend, and no ma^i got rid of an enemy.'" In view of what has been said, let the teacher cease to repine at his hard lot. Let him cast an occasional glance at the bright prospect before him. He deserves, to be sure, a higher pecuniary reward than he receives ; and he should never cease to press this truth upon the community, till talent in teaching is as well compen- THE REWARDS OF THE TEACHER 405 Magnify liis office.— How?— Moral recompense. sated as talent in any other calling. But whether he gains this or not, let him dwell upon the privileges and rewards to be found in the calling itself, and take fresh encouragement. The apostle Paul exhibited great wisdom when he said, '^ I magnify mine office." If the foregoing views respecting the importance of the teacher^s calling are correct, he may safely follow the apostle^s example. This is not, however, to be done merely by boastful words. No man can elevate himself, or magnify his office in public estimation by indulging in empty declamation, or by passing inflated resolutions. He must /ee/ the dignity of his profession, and show that he feels it by unremitted exertions to attain to the highest excellence of which he is capable,— animated, in'^the midst of his toil, chiefly by the great moral recompense which every faithful teacher may hope to receive. Let every teacher, then, study to improve himself intellectually and morally ; let him strive to advance in the art of teaching ; let him watch the growth of mind under his culture and take the encouragement which that affords ; let him consider the usefulness he may eflect and the circumstances which make his calling honorable ; let him prize the gratitude of his pupils and of their parents and friends ; and above all, let him 406 THEOKY AKD PKACTICE OF TEACHING Final reward. value the approval of Heaven^ and set a proper estimate upon the rewards which another world will unfold to him^ — and thus be encouraged to toil on in faithfulness and in hope, — till, having finished his course, and being gathered to the home of the righteous, he shall meet multitudes, instructed by his wise precept, and profited by his pure example, who ''shall rise up and call him blessed/' NOTES V-AgQ 21— Professional iyrex)aratio)i. — lu this respect there has been immense advance since Mr. Page's time. Most States now require a certificate of qualification obtained througli examina- tions of considerable tlioroughness, and many cities and villages will receive only normal graduates as candidates for positions. In New York, no teacher can be employed in the public schools unless provided at least with a certificate obtained through the " uniform examinations ", the questions for which are prepared in the olfice of the Department of Public Instruction and sent to the school-commissioners in sealed envelopes, not to be opened till the examination begins, at the same hour throughout the State. These examinations are graded, and a third-grade certifi- cate can be renewed but once. A constant pressure is thus exerted upon teachers who are employed to push forward to higher qualification, and those who have not sufficient profes- sional spirit to do this are dropped from the ranks. The effect of these examinations in raising the wages of teachers has been marked. By discriminating between those who mean to make teaching a business, and those who take it up as a make-shift, the former begin to receive the consideration and the compensation that go with skilled labor. The advance begun in 1846 (see Note to page 70) is now more rapid than ever before. Page 37 — Locke Amsden, — This reference to the bed of death may possibly have been suggested by chapter v. in ' ' Locke Amsdem ", Judge Thomson's well-known story, where the hero stands by the bedside of Henry Marvin. That book appeared (4071 408 THEOKY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING about the time this volume was written, and Mr. Page may have seen advance sheets. Page 37 — T?ie order of study is now fixed for most teachers by courses of study permanently adopted for a system of schools. In New York a large portion of even the district schools have by commissioner districts and under approval of the State Superin- tendent adopted a uniform course of study, which may be found in the 1893 edition of DeGraff's " School Room Guide ". Page 38 — Golburn's Arithmetic. — We can hardly realize at this day what a power Colburn's Mental Arithmetic was in education, fifty years ago. Warren Colhurn (1793-1833) manifested expertness in arithmcN tic at an early age, and after gradu- ation from Harvard in 1820 opened a select school in Boston. In 1821 he published his "First Lessons ii; Intellectual Arithmetic ", based on the principles of Pestalozzi, which received higlier encomiums than any other text-book ever published "^^S^^^P^*^ in this country, and soon came into almost universal use, 50,000 copies being sold annually in Great Britain, and twice as many in America. In 1823 he withdrew from school to become superintendent of a manufacturing busi- ness, but lectured on scientific subjects, and published a "Sequel " to his "First Lessons ", and an " Algebra ". But his fame rests on the " First Lessons ". Thomas Sherwin said : " I regard Mr. Colburn as the greatest benefactor of his age, with respect to tlie proper development of mathematical power." See Mr. Page's judgment expressed on page 76. Page 4:^— Writing toith the x>&n. — It must be remembered that KOTES 409 in Mr. Page's time writing with a pen was done with quills, every one of which the master had to sharpen or "mend" with his pen-knife (see page 276). The steel pen and stationary ink- stands have wrought a revolution in this matter, and in the best schools the pen is used from the first. Slates might well be pro- hibited altogether, as the use of slate pencils interferes with the proper grasp of the pen ; and even the lead pencil is used at great disadvantage as compared with the pen. Page AQ— Francis Waylnnd (1796-1865) was graduated from Union College, and began practice as a physician. Becoming con- verted he entered the ministry, but after five years' service in Boston became professor of mathematics at Union, where he had previously served four years as tutor. Almost immediately he was elected presi- dent of Brown University, where he remained from Febrnary, 1827, till his resignation in 1855. He proved to be one of the lialf-dozen great college presidents of his generation, establishing firm discipline, and proving himself an instructor of remarkable power. A justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, himself a Brown graduate, said of a witness in a certain trial : " If I had not known such to be the fact, I should have suspected that the man was one of Dr. Wayland's students from the way in which he discriminated between things which are often confounded." His best known books are "Elements of Moral Science", 1835 ; " Elements of Political Economy ", 1837 ; and ' ' Elements of Intellectual Philosophy ", 1854. A memoir by his son was published in 1869, 410 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Page 59 — Uiiconscious tuition. — In this connection, every teacher should read Bishop Huntington's " Unconscious Tuition" — a book that has done more to inspire the true teaclier with a realiza- tion of his responsibility than any treatise of its size ever published. Page 60 — The Tnorning bath. — Comparatively few teachers have morning access to a bath-tub, but by means of a large, soft sponge a bath may be taken in three minutes that will invigorate the body for the whole day. See page 308. A small rubber mat with raised edge will be found convenient to stand on, to keep the water from the floor. The teacher with a good sponge and such a mat need never miss his morning bath. Page 61 — Care of tlie teeth. — It takes more than a brush to save most sets of teeth in these days, and the young teacher cannot be too earnestly urged to put himself as early as possible under care of a skillful dentist. A dentist's is one of the few bills one is justified in incurring even if he has to borrow the money to pay it. A stitch in time saves more than nine — it saves everything. Page 63 — Beprecisehut not pedantic. — ]Many a teacher has failed of desired promotion because of his unfortunate use of inaccurate language. There is little other study so immediately profitable to him as that of the dictionary and of reputable handbooks upon the use of language. (See page 140). One caution, however, should be thrown out in this connection, especially to young teachers. While the teacher should be scrupulously accurate in his own use of language, and quick to correct false expressions in school, let him beware of criticising tlie language of those out- side the school. A pedant is insufferable. Some teachers have the habit, whenever a word is given a pronunciation different from that they are accustomed to, of repeating the w^ord in their own pronunciation, even when it has been spoken by one older and wiser than themselves. Such teachers display at once their NOTES 411 supposed knowledge and their unquestioned ill-manners. See what Mr. Page says on page 78 of conceit in one's small acquire- ments in grammar. Page Ql— Habits of study.— This subject is treated at greater length later. See page 323. Page 11— Horace Mann (1796-1859) was the most emment and successful promoter of popular education of his time. As lawyer, statesman, and philanthropist he had achieved considerable reputa- tion, when in 1837 he became sec- retary of the newly-established Board of Education of Massa- chusetts. He held this position for 12 years, working 16 hours a day. He made use mainly of three agencies : (1) a series of teachers' institutes ; (2) a monthly Common ScJiool Journal ; and (3) a wide circulation of his Annual School Reports to the Board of Education (1838-1849), w^hich still rank among the best of educational literature. In 1843, he visited Europe, and his com- parisons in his 7th Report led to a heated controversy with the masters of the Boston schools. In 1848 he resigned to become United States senator, and in 1854 he became president of Antioch College, where he remained till his death. The statistics referred to are probably those for 1841, for in his 5th report (page 24) Mr. Mann says: "The average salaries of male teachers for the same period [1837-1841] have advanced 33 per cent.; those of females a little more than 12i per cent." In the statistics on which this estimate is based, we find (page 305) that the average wages after the increase of 33 and 12^ per cent, are as follows : 412 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Average wages paid per montli including board {to Fenfales "^281 Average value of board per montli |g][ Females' "^ 5 85 Average wages per month, exclusive of board |qj Feimales ^^96 It is interesting to compare these statistics with those of the 55th Massachusetts report, for 1890-91, just half a century later. We find (page Ixxv) that the average wages of men teachers are now $118.07 a month, an increase of 250 per cent.; and those of women teachers $48.17 a month, an increase of 284 per cent. Meanwhile the average number of months of school has increased from four to ten, so that the increase in yearly salaries is 775 per cent, for men, and 860 per cent, for women. That this increase is not confined to Massachusetts is shown by the following table of monthly salaries in addition to board, taken from Mr. Mann's 11th report, for 1847 (page 97): Men. Women. Men. Women. Maine . . $15.40 13.50 $ 4.80 5.65 Pa $17.02 $10.09 N. H Ohio 15.42 8.73 Vt 12.00 4.75 Ind 12.00 6.00 Conn 16.00 6.50 Mich.... ... . 12.71 5.86 N.y 14.96 6.69 Mass.... 24.51 8.07 The comparison of wages given by Mr. Page on pages 389, 390, no longer holds good. Page 14:— Beading. —HovdiCQ Mann's 2d Report is almost entirely (pp. 37-76) devoted to the subject of reading. The quotation here is from pages 56, 57. Page 75 — Study of the classics — Mr. Page exemplified this pre- cept as to Latin and Greek in his own experience. See page 12. Page 79 — Geometry is placed by Thomas Hill before arithmetic in his "True Order of Studies", which should be read by teach- ers, to show how strongly this view may be presented. It may be f'oimd in Barnard's Journal of Education, vi. 180, 449 ; vii. 273, 491. It is also published in book form. Page 81 — Physiology.— T\\Q quotation is from Horace Mann's 6tli Report, which is devoted almost entirely (pages 56-160) to the teaching of physiology in school. Page ^'i—Book keeping.— ^j the report for 1891 of the Regents' of the University of the State of New York, it appears that for the year ending Sept. 1, 1891, 2,827 papers in book-keeping were offered. The numbers in some other studies were as follows • geography, 29,887 ; spellmg, 28,220 ; arithmetic, 26,027 ; U. S. history, 13,930 ; philosophy, 12,546 ; Latin, 9,370 ; civics, 5,967 ; plane geometry, 4,573. But much of book-keeping forms is now taught in connection with arithmetic and penmanship. Page 84 — Civil government. — Inmost States an examination in civics is now required of candidates who wish to be teachers. Indeed the subject is taught in a large proportion of even the country schools, as may be judged from the preceding Note. Page 85 — Vocal music. — See further remarks on this subject, page 202. Considerable space (pages 117-132) is given in Horace Mann's 8th Report to the subject of vocal music in tlie public schools. The general advance has perhaps been slower along this line during the past fifty years, than along any of the others advocated by these two writers. New York is we believe the first State specifically to authorize by law the teaching of this branch in the public schools. Page 87 — Scientific knoicledge. — Mr. Page's reference here to astronomy and geology, as well as what he said on pages 79, 80 of physics and chemistry, show what an advance has been made in the teaching of science since tliis book was written. Most teachers have had considerable instruction in all these studies before they enter upon their work, and in the better high and 414 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHINO" normal scliools both physics and chemistry are taug-ht experi- mentally. Botany and zoology Mr. Page does not even mention. Page 89— TAe artist's ideal.— The author exaggerates some- what the perfection of the artist's original ideal. He has a gen- eral conception of what he wishes to produce, but the gradual dewlopment of his ideal, during the process of realizing it, is the artist's greatest joy. This is perhaps more manifest in the true teacher than in any other artist. Page Q'2— George B. Emerson (1797-1881), one of the most influ- ential teachers of Massachusetts, began in a district school when 17 years old, and withdrew in 1855, after having been for 25 years principal of a private school for girls in Boston. He served on the State Board of Education, was among the founders of the Amer- ican Institute of Instruction, and aided Warren Colburn in bringing out his " Intellectual Arith- metic". He wrote in 1843 the second part of " The School and the Schoolmaster", hereafter referred to (see page 422). This quotation is from pages 273, 274 of that work. Mr. Emerson's main effort at reform in education were toward the abolishment of corporal punishment, and the extension of the education of women. Some of his experiences were gathered by him into a volume called "Reminiscences of an Old Teacher " (1878). In his later years he did much botanical investigation. Page %2— Professional iweparation. — This statement of Mr. Emerson's is no longer true. Legal requirements already compel a certain amount of professional preparation, and every year the standard is rising. See Note to page 27, KOTES 415 Page 101 — 8elf -activity . — The teacher should keep in mind Hamilton's well known definitions, that education is the direction of the mind to self -activity ; and that pleasure is the reflex of the spontaneous and unimpeded exertion of a power of whose energj- we are conscious. See page 111. Page 102— Methods of penmansJiip. — It is a curious comment- ary upon the note at the foot of this page, that series of ' ' tracing- books" are now made which teach penmanship by precisely this method. But they are based upon a false principle — the imitation of form instead of drill in movement. Page \0%— Leading questions. — " President Porter of Yale Uni- versity was an easy man to recite to. I recollect once he was hearing a class in Mark Hopkins's 'Law of Love,' and he had Blagden upon the floor. ' Blagden,' he said, ' is it right to pay very much attention to dress ? ' Blagden, who seldom looked at his lessons in this subject, preferring to trust to the inspiration of the moment, looked down at a well-fitting pair of trousers, and replied, ' Why, yes, sir ; I should think so.' Professor Porter, as he was then, smiled benevolently. ' Our author would hardly agree with you on general principles,' he said ; 'but suppose one dresses with care, not to gratify his vanity but in accordance with the demands of his station or the expectations of the friends he associates with '? ' — ' O, of course it would be wrong in that case,' Blagden replied quickly. And tradition has it that he got a very good mark in that recitation." Page \1%— Awakening curiosity. — The reader can appreciate the curiosity of the children from the fact that he is by this time himself anxious that Mr. Page shall tell the use he has in mind. Compare page 179. But teachers who thus rouse the curiosity of children should be careful to satisfy it legitimately. A teacher once promised his scholars that if they would not play or whisper 416 THEORY' AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHING all tlie afternoon lie would show them v>'liat no person had ever seen before and no person would ever see again. The room was so quiet one could have heard a pin drop. At the close of the session the teacher took from his pocket a peanut and broke the shell. "There," he said, holding up one of the kernels, "there is something no person ever saw before, and," swallowing it, "that no person will ever see again." But the story does not tell how he kept the room quiet the next afternoon. Page 131 — Object-lessons. — It will have occurred to the reader that this process of " waking up mind " is closely akin to what is now commonly known as "object-lessons", a term hardly known in this country till Dr. Sheldon introduced this method of teach- ing at Oswego, fifteen years after this book w^as written. There has been a great deal of discussion over the usefulness of object- lessons, which would have been avoided if Mr. Page's hints had always been followed. Not a few teachers have attempted to in- troduce printed reports of object-lessons bodily into their classes, expecting their pupils to give the same replies that another set of pupils had haiDpened to give, thus wholly mistaking the pur- pose of the lesson. The object-lesson is a failure if it does not serve the first pur- pose Mr. Page names, to put the minds of the children into a state of vigorous activity. You may "pour in" a printed object- lesson as easily as any other kind of ready-made and ill-fitting in- formation. See Note to page 357. For the possibilities of rational instruction of this kind, the teacher will do well to study the lesson on the duck in Rooper's " Object Lessons", one of the latest and best books on the subject. Page 135 — Manner of present Ing a subject. — Beyond the general question as to the natural order of presenting a given subject, the teacher will learn to study how the subject may be effect- KOTES 41 r ually presented to individual members of his class. See article on " The Professional Test ", in the School Bulletin for Feb., 1886, (xii.70). Page 136 — Text-hooks in recitation.— During his tour abroad, Horace Mann was impressed by the fact that the Prussian teachers never employed a text-book during recitation. On pages 122, 123 of his 7th Report, he shows what power it gives the teacher to be free from the book Page 138 — The common-place hook.— It should be remarked that many of the best text-books in use have growm up from ' ' com- mon-place books " like that described. This very book bears evidence on every page of having accumulated from notes gathered from every source, and promptly put on paper, that they might not be lost. See page 329. Page 140 — Scotch animation. — This description of Horace Mann's is in his 7th Report, pages 60-67, and is well worth reading. Page \4^Z— Samuel Read Hall (1795-18—) received a scanty education, but began teaching in 1815, and from the start becanit; remarkable for unusual success in government and the introduc- tion of new methods. In 1823 he opened at Concord, N. H., a school for the training of teachers, the first normal school in this country. This was so successful that in 1830 he was made prin- cipal of the teachers' seminary at Andover, Mass., where he remained till 1840. He then removed to Craftsbury, Yt., where he continued in charge of a teachers' class till 1846. He then resigned to devote himself wholly to preaching, in which he had all his life been partially engaged. In 1829 he published his "Lectures to Schoolmasters on Teaching ", of which 10,000 were purchased in 1833 by the legislature of New York for distribution among the schools of the State, a distribution which led to the 41$ THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING subsequent establishment of the District Library system. (See Barnard's " American Journal of Education ", v. 401.) The quo- tation here made is from chapter ix, page 82, of the 4th edition (1833). In 1832, he published "Lectures to Female Teachers on School-Keeping ". Page 14:1— Joseph Lancaster (1778-1838), son of a Chelsea ^(""'Z^^^jm^ry^'^ pensioner, began at nineteen to ^^*^ ^\ gather the children of the neighbor- ing poor for gratuitous instruction, at first in his father's home, and I then in rented rooms. He soon had ■ a thousand children assembled at Borough Road, London. Through the Duke of Bedford and others a building was provided, the King became interested, and Lancaster travelled over England giving lectures and establishing schools. But his projects exceeded his resources, and in 1807 he was arrested for debt. William Carston and Joseph Fox, believing in his work, formed themselves into The British and Foreign School Society, and assumed his debt, still leaving him in charge. By 1813 his debts amounted again to some $40,000, and he was declared bankrupt. He dropped out of sight for a time, but in 1818 sailed to Philadelphia, and wandered over North and South America, lecturing and teaching, finally settling down in New York city, the corporation of which made him a grant of $500. Here on Oct. 23, 1838, he was run over in the street by a carriage and killed. In 1833 he published an autobiography, and in 1840 a brief biography by William Carston appeared. The peculiarity of his method was the employment of pupils as teachers, and the almost imivcrsal concert method in recitation. JrOTES 419 When so acting ptipils were called "monitors ", whence the term " monitorial system ", the invention of which was claimed both hy r>r. Andrew Bell and by Mr. Lancaster. The latter confesses to having received hints from Dr. Bell's book, published in 1797 ; but developed the system from necessity, since in his original school he had no money with which to employ teachers. For a time his system bcame a craze, and " Lancasterian " schools were founded everywhere, not a few of them in America. The most extrava- gant claims were made, and just before his death Mr. Lancaster planned to return to England and teach ten thousand children to read fluently in from three weeks, to three months. But, as Mr. J. G. Fitch says in the Encyclopaedia Britannica (xiv. 258). ' ' We have since come to believe that intelligent teaching requires skill and previous training, and that even the humblest rudiments are not to be well taught by those who have only just acquired them themselves, or to be attained by mere mechanical drill." Horace Mann speaks with his usuul emphasis in his 7th Report (page 60): "One must see the difference between the hampering, blinding, misleading instruction given by an inexperienced child, and the developing, transforming, and almost creative power of an accomplished teacher ;— one must rise to some comprehension of the vast import and significance of the phrase ' to educate ',— before he can regard with sufiiciently energetic contempt that boast of Dr. Bell, ' Give me twenty-four pupils to day, and I will give you back twenty -four teachers to-morrow.' " Page 151 — Experimenting on c/i^7f?re;i. —Dio Lewis's well-known illustration is always apt. An oculist, complimented upon his deft skill in an operation, replied : "Yes, but in learning to do this I have spoiled a hat-full of eyes ! " Page 168— " GrwZrewar^Zs."— It should be borne in mind that God's rewards are not always material. It is far from true that 420 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACftlK'CT' the deserving either in purpose or in accomplishment always get in this life such rewards as correspond with the prizes in schools. Honesty is the best policy, but not because it always makes a man rich ; it often makes him poor. But it is its own reward, in the consciousness of right-doing. See page 174. Page llQ—TJie pleasure of acquisition.— The saying of the phi losopher is w^ell worth pondering : "If I had all knowledge in my grasp, I would let it go for the pleasure of once more acquir- ing it." See page 178. Robert Browning's philosophy of life is based on the joyful fact that we can never become perfect, but that as w^e strive for perfection our ideal rises. Page 177 — The acquisition of the child. — This has become a study of great importance. Such books as Perez's " First Three Years of Childhood ", and Tiedemann's " Record of Infant Life " are recognized as among the first to be read by teachers, espec- ially those of primary grades. Fage 182— The passion of anger. — There is a popular impres- sion, upon which many anecdotes are based, that profanity acts as a safety-valve to reduce the violence of anger. Nothing could be further from the truth. Through indulgence in oaths of ac cumulating violence a slight annoyance may be heated into n phrensy, until all self-control is lost. The teacher cannot be too earnestly warned to avoid, for his own sake as well as for exam- ple to his pupils, not only profane expressions, but the half-oaths, and even the ejaculations of annoyance. Page 18^— Frivolity . — Even more dangerous in the teacher is sentimentality. The sentimental schoolmaster always has marked favorites, and does not always show judgment in exhibiting his partiality. If silly and sentimental herself, such a favorite may make both herself and the teacher ridiculous or worse. But if »he has the good taste and the good sense to reject such over- NOTES 421 tures, her opinion of him and of men receives a shock from which it is slow to recover. "Mother," said one such girl, her eyes flashing through tears of indignation, ' ' he told me I was the dearest, sweetest girl in all the school ; what right had he to say such a thing to me ? " Her instinct had recognized the leer of sentimentality under the compliment ; she knew" it was not to make discriminations like these he was put in charge of his pupils, and she felt the personal effront that he should lift the schoolmaster's toga to reveal the mantle of a lover. Under such a teacher the neglected ones grow bitter. They observe, exaggerate, often misapprehend the attentions their teacher pays the more favored ones, and they are personally dis- couraged. They feel that their best work will never be fairly credited, that they do not get the personal assistance they are entitled to, and that under this teacher their work must neces- sarily be unprofitable. Jealousy and other evil feelings are aroused, and altogether a cloud falls over their school life that is not readily lifted. Compare page 188. Page 184:— Jacob Abbott (1803-1879) was graduated from Bow- doin College in 1820, and was tutor and professor of mathematics in Amherst College from 1824 to 1829, when he opened the Mount Vernon school for girls in Boston. In 1834 he became pastor of the Eliot church in Roxbury, resigning a year later to devote him- self to authorship. In 1843 he went to Europe, and on his return joined tw^o brothers in opening a young ladies' school in New York, afterwards known as the Spingler Institute, to which a boys' department was added in 1845. In 1851 he once more gave up teaching for authorship. He was the sole author of 180 volumes, and joint-author of 31 more. "The Teacher, or Moral Influences emi)loyed in the Instruc- tion and Government of the Young " was published in 1833, and has still considerable sale, The quotation liere is froni chapter 422 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING iv., pp. 119, 130 of the revised edition. The thought is further developed on pages 193, 194, of this vohime. Page 185 — Treatment of backward children. — Furtlier remarks on this subject will be found on pages 188, 343, 351. Page 186 — Confidence in govern tnent. — The inexperienced teacher should bear in mind the famous lines of Addison : ' T Is not in mortals to command success, But we'll do more, Sempronius, we'll deserve it. This is the resolution that should underlie all he does. In his own preparation for daily worli, in his carefulness in recitation, in his readiness to do all he can for the school and the pupils in- dividually, he should do his duty so tlioroughly that no reproach can fall upon him. This is the basis on which all good govern- ment rests ; and on this basis he can be firm and even severe when firmness and severity are needed. Page 188 — Males and females. — Usage has changed for the bet- ter since Mr. Page's time. We no longer speak of males and females in scliool, but of boys and girls, or of young men and young women. Page 203— Bishoj) Alonzo Potter (1800-1865) wa^ graduated BISHOP POTTER. JAMES WADSWORTH. from Union College in 1818, and professor there most of the time till 1845, when he was made Bishop of the diocese of Penn- NOTES 423 sylvanLa. While eminent in his college work, he was no less interested in the common schools. He was the advisor of James Wadsworth of Geneva in his gifts for education, and of the Department of Public Instruction in its official action. He was author of the first part of " The School and the Schoolmaster", prepared at the expense of Mr. Wadsworth, who distributed 15,000 copies among the schools of the State, and leading educa- tional men elsewhere, xiltogether more than 60,000 copies were sold. Page 2^^— Registers of credits.— Thh suggestion of putting the emphasis on encouragement rather than on reproof is capable of wide extension. One of the first precepts given to teachers by Mrs. Louise Preece, whose system of physical culture is used in many large cities, is this : " Never call the attention of pupils to their personal defects ; it will only exaggerate the defects by mak- ing the pupils more conscious of them. Instead, give them exer- cises that will lessen the defects, and then praise the children for the improvement. If m.y child is round-shouldered, and I say, 'Dear me, Mabel, how crooked you are,' it will only make her more round-shouldered ; but if I take a time when she happens to be sittmg more upright than usual, and say, ' Why, Mabel, how much straighter you are getting to be lately ; you have no idea how much it is improving your appearance,' she will think of it twenty times a day, and sit or stand straighter." Page 228 — Loss of privileges. — This is the fundamental principle of Herbert Spencer's idea of discipline. See his "Education", chapter iii. Page 2'^\— Janitor duties.— Kt the present time, wheii siidi tasks as are here named are usually the paid work of a janitor, it would be unwise to impose tlicm on pupils. Even in thj small districts where Guch work still falls on the teacher, pupilc should 4:24: THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING not be compelled to take part in it, though often they may be permitted to in a friendly way to assist. Page 236 — Horace Mann's mews. — The quotation is from Mr. Mann's lecture on "School Punishments" (1840), pp. 336-339 of the edition of 1867. Page 2i3— Corporal punishment is now forbidden by statute in some States, like New Jersey : and by regulation in many cities, like Syracuse. 'Pa.ge24:5—Theriff7itofex2mlsion. — The law may now be con- sidered established that the teacher has the right to suspend a pupil, and to refer the matter to the trustees ; and that the trus- tees have the right to expel. See Bardeen's "Common School Law ", pages 68-76. Page 255 — The French assembly. — This paragraph is one of the most strikingly oratorical passages in the book, showing, if we did not otherwise know it, that the chapters of were originally prepared and used as lectures. Page 2oS— School arrangements. — In modern nomenclature, the title of this chapter would be " School Management ", or " School Economy ". Page 260 — Preparation for the first day. — The untried teacher will find needed help in Buckham's "Handbook for Young Teachers ", which gives with rare sagacity the suggestions of an older friend. Page 261 — Disparaging former teachers. — This wise counsel of Mr. Page is repeated again and again, and cannot be too strongly impressed upon the young teacher. Page 264 — Jacob Abbot fs views. — This quotation is ooudensed from chapter ix., pages 326, 327, of the revised edition. Page 269 — Tlie daily programme here given has much historical interest, and may profitably be compared with tho?^ of the NOTES 425 present day. Ft)!' two programmes carefully constructed accord- ing to present ideas, see DeGraflf's " School Room Guide ". Page 270 — Drawing. — That Mr. Page recognized drawing as an important element in education illustrates how comprehensive were his views ; but he looked upon it, as others did at that time, us merely the copying of pictures or the representation of objects. How the idea of teaching drawing has developed may be judged from the present title under which it is taught, — " Form- Study and Drawing," to which "Color" is already beginning to be added. Page 279 — Lancasterian schools, — See Note on Joseph Lancas- ter, page 418. Page 280— Recesses.— In the decade from 1880 to 1890, there was much argument at teachers' associations against school recesses. Albany, Rochester, and some other cities did away with them, having but one session a day, with intervals for calis- thenics. A discussion of the subject may be found in the report of the Commissioner of Education for 1884-85, pp. xxiv-xxvi, and in the proceedings of the Department of Superintendence of the National Educational Association for 1884, pages 59-75. Dr. Wm. T. Harris's paper, advocating recesses, was published in the School Bulletin, xi. 2. Page 281 — Se'parate accommodations for loth sexes. — Some States, like New York, have made positive enactment that the play- grounds and out-buildings shall be wholly distinct, and separated by Cj high fence. Page 282— Leam to retire from the room. — Mr. Page's advice that as a general rule children should be permitted to retire from the school-room only at the regular recesses should be followed with caution and circumspection, especially in case of young pupils. Much suffering and irreparable harm often result from 436 l^EORX Ai^D PRACTICE OF TEACHING the indifference of the teacher to the needs of nature in little children. Page 284 — ''Not hoio much hut how iccll." — This is a good motto for the wise teacher, but a dangerous one for the shallow teacher, for it may easily lead to abuse. There is much worth considering in an editorial in the Ainerican Educational Monthly, V. 445-447. Page 288 — Public examinations. — These are almost unknown at the present day, the substitute being usually an exhibition, where declamations, recitations and composition are employed to impress upon parents what progress their children have made. But that in Mr. Page's time these public examinations were universal and harmful is illustrated in Horace Mann's 4th Report (pages 76-79), where the abuse is deplored in language even stronger than that here found. Page 292 — Examinations for iwomotion seem to have been prac- tically unused in Mr. Page's time, as those spoken of are only for exhibition purposes. The teacher's attention should, however, be called to the present discussion of this subject, and to the fact that some cities, like Buffalo and Cleveland, have practically dis- carded them, relying mainly upon the teacher's judgment as to when a child should pass to a higher grade. Page 300—" Ever endeaDor."— The preparation of this book in the form of lectures led Mr. Page to the employment of some phrases at that time supposed to be particularly fitted to the plat- form ; as for instance, the use of " ever " in place of "always ". In this place the substitution is pai ticularly unfortunate. Page 301 — " Out-door work." — A caution should be thrown out here. The teacher should not make himself so prominent in the outside matters of the village as to neglect his school-work. If he becomes superintendent of the Sunday-school, supplies the NOTES 437 vacant pulpit, arranges the lecture course, engineers the picnics, conducts the political caucuses, and shows a general disposition to put himself at the head in everything that comes up, he not only arouses unnecessary antagonisms, but he dissipates upon these various activities the energy that properly belongs to his school. While the teacher should be an all-around man and a good citizen, he should be reluctant to take upon his shoulders any serious responsibilities outside the school. Page 303 — " The School and the Schoolmaster. '^ — The history of this book has already been given under the names of its two authors (pages 414, 423). The quotation here given is condensed from chapter ii, pages 288-299. Page 305 — Ricling on horseback. — If he were living to-day, Mr, Emerson would doubtless recommend the bicycle, which is ridden by thousands of teachers, from President Low of Columbia College, and Superintendent Maxwell of Brooklyn, down to the young woman just beginning her work in a district school. It puts healthful and inspiring exercise within the reach of all. Page 311 — Quantity of food. — Mr. Emerson's opinion that one- half the food a farmer needs will be sufficient for the teacher would not pass current at the present day. Brain labor is not only quite as fatiguing as any other, but it requires quite as much and as hearty nourishment. Page 312 — Drink at meals. — Modern hygiene objects to drink at meals ; especially to cold water. It is better to drink a glass of water an hour before a meal. The last rule should be followed by another quite as important as any that have been given, which is. Do not hurry at meals. Probably the hasty, half-swallowing of the breakfast, and gulp- ing down of the dinner have done more to produce dyspepsia in the teacher and disorder in the school-room than either the nature 428 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING or the quality of the food. " If Byron had respected his dinner/' wrote Thackeray, "he would never haA^e written Don Juan." The teacher should respect his dinner, allow plenty oi time for it, and permit no pressure of work to produce a habit of hurry. Page 318 — Salaries of teachers, — The advance in average salaries since Mr. Page's time, already spoken of (page 412) is still less remarkable than the advance in salaries for higher positions. Several college presidents now command $10,000 a year ; the regular salary of a i3rofessor in Columbia College is $7,500 ; and the salaries of superintendents in the larger cities range mostly from $4,000 to $7,500. The tendency is still to require more exceptional qualification and to pay higher salaries in all respon- sible positions. It may be doubted whether the average salary in either law or medicine or theology is to-day larger than that of men teachers professionally trained. Page 321 — Discrimination in emjyloi/ment, — Mr. Page's usual keen discernment seems to have failed him here. He presents the facts, but he fails to draw the right induction. The moment incompetent teachers are shut out from teaching, the number of available teachers becomes smaller and salaries rise. All that good teachers need ask is that no poor teachers shall be granted certificates ; the salary question will take care of itself. Page 327 — Books recommended. — It would be a pity to omit this list of the teachers' library of 1846, as some later editions have done. Of the 15 books specified by title, the " School and the Schoolmaster " has been spoken of on pages 414, 423 ; the "Teacher" on page 421; "Lectures on School Keeping" on page 417; and the " Secretary's Reports " of Horace Mann on page 411. The "Teachers' Manual", by Thomas II. Palmer, won the prize of $500 offered in 1838 l\y the American Institute of Instruc- KOTES 429 tion iiJY " tlie best Kssay on a system of Education best adapted to the Common Schools of our country, to embrace the formation of School Districts, the construction of Schoolhouses, and the entire course of School Education, from the most elementary department to the highest embraced in our public schools." It was published in 1840 under the direction of Horace Mann, and made a 12mo book of 260 pages. " The Teacher Taught," by Emerson Davis, a little book of 76 pages ; and " The Schoolmaster's Friend", by Theodore Dwight, jr., a book of 360 pages, are now very rare. Mr. Taylor wrote "The District School " in competition for a prize offered by Mr. Wadsworth, and received $1,000 for it, although the committee thought it hardly up to the standard required. A preface to the 3d edition (1885), which was entirely re- written, with chapters vii. and xix. added, states that 8,000 copies were sold within four months of the first appearance of the book. The Regents recommended it as a reading-book for teachers' seminaries. For Mr. Taylor's other writings and sub- sequent career, see Bardeen's " History of Educational Journalism in the Empire State ", pages 5-10, The other books whose titles are given were periodicals of the time, the issue of which was long ago suspended, except the "Lectures of the American Institute of Instruction ", wiiich are still annually published, and are still, as they have always been, highly valued. The other books referred to are the essays of Thomas Wyse, president of the Central Society of Education, London, published in the "First", "Second", and "Third" "Publications" of that society, three volumes of essays (1837-1889) ; a prize essay on " The Expediency and Means of Elevating the Profession of the Educator in Society ", by John Lalor, published by the same 430 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING Society, and republished in Barnard's Journal of Education, v. 33 ; Victor Cousin's "Report on the State of Public Instruction in Prussia" (his "Report on Education in Holland, as regards Schools for the Working Classes and for the Poor ", was com- paratively little known), translated by Sarah Austin, and published in London in 1884, and in New York in 1835,— still a standard authority, and at that time a power in the advancement of educa- tional interests; and "Lord Brougham on Education" (1839), edited by J. Orville Taylor, made up of extracts from his writ- ings and speeches, with notes by the editor. This " somewhat extended list of books " was a large teachers' library in 1846. Horace Mann recommends in his 5th Report (page 59) "The Teacher", "The Teacher's Manual", "The Teacher Taught", from the above list, but adds Edgeworth's "Practical Education", and Mme. Neckar de Saussure's "Pro- gressive Education ", both still standard works. He also mentions the works of Pestalozzi, Simpson, Wilderspin, and Stow. Page 338 — The Essex County Association. — In reply to nn inquiry whether this association is still alive. Superintendent W. A. Mowry of Salem writes on Nov. 19, 1893 : "It still main- tains a vigorous existence. * * * This fall all the schools of the county were closed, by vote of the school-boards. High school teachers came as well as others, and the attendance was fully 1,500. It was a capital meeting." Page 343 — Poorly -dressed children. — Mr. Page's frequent refer- ences to the injustice with which the poor and the unattractive are frequently treated in school is based upon his own sad experi- ence. See quotation from Horace Mann, pages 10, 11. Page 345 — Control of Studies. — The courts have usually given to the trustees the right to prescribe a course of study, and to insist that every child shall take all tlie studies required in his NOTES 431 grade. Thus it has been held that composition may be required of all pupils, and that a girl may be expelled for refusing to declaim, even if her father has conscientious scruples against women's speaking in public. The present tendency, especially at the west, is to limit this power. See pages 57-67 of Bardeen's " Common School Law ". Page 348 — Extraneous business. — The teacher shoald l)e espe- cially warned against commercial transactions with his pupils, such as furnishing text-books, paper, writing-pads, pens, pencils, etc. If he makes money out of this peddling he will inspire con- tempt, and he will l)e accused of making money even Avhen he sells at cost or less. It is much better, where it is thought wise to buy school supplies in quantity and furnish them to the pupils, that the entire matter should be entrusted to a committee of the pupils. It will be practical business education for them, and relieve the teacher from the suspicion of pocketing perquisites at the expense of his pupils. Page Z^'^— Insulting visits of 2)a)'e7its.-^The pnrent is sometimes so unreasonable that courteous conduct is powerless, and the work of the school is seriously interrupted. In such cases the teacher should remember that he has the power to compel the withdrawal of the parent, or other intruder. In Nev,- York a message should be sent to the nearest justice of the peace, who is compelled l)y law to arrest the offender and to fine him. The schoolhouse is the teacher's castle. See Bardeen's " Common School Law ", pages 77, 78. Page 357 — Oral instruction. — To understand just what Mr. - Page is here condemning so violently, it is necessary to consult the educational literature of 1829 to 1881. The spirit of the time is fortunately preserved to us in William Russell's Journal of Edu^ cation (1826-1830), and the Annals of Education that succeeded it. 43^ THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING We find that in what was then known as " infant education " there had been introduced a combination of what were supposed to be Pestalozzi's principles witli Lancaster's methods— in other words, object-lessons committed to memory by the oldest boy in the school, and taught by him parrot-like to the rest. Thus in a quotation from Goyder it is stated {Journal, ii. 25): ' ' The system of instruction pursued at the Bristol Infant School is said to consist of one continued round of varied amusements, not that play is the principal characteristic, but because the instruction is so blended with amusement tliat it ought to be termed nothing else. * » * What is repetition of arithmetic tables ? Instruction : but it is conveyed in so pleasing a manner that it is also an amusement. And what is reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, singing, marching, etc., etc.? All instruc- tion ; granted — but it is amusement to me to convey such instructions, and I know it is amusement for children to receive them." Specimens of Goyder 's lessons are given on pages 129-132 of this same volume. Some of the best books illustrating this method of instruction are S. Wilderspin's " Infant Education " (1823), and "Early Disciplme Illustrated" (1832) ; William Wil- son's "The System of Infants' Schools " (3d edition, 1826) ; and John Wood's "Account of the Edinburgh Sessional School" (1828). This combination of monitorial and supposedly inductive instruction should not be confounded with real Pestalozzian methods, which can hardly be said to have been systematically introduced until Dr. Sheldon brought Miss Jones from England, in 1861. See Note to page 131. Page 362 — Limits of the icachefs autliority. — The teacher's authority over the pupil is absolute in tho school-room and on the school-grounds, in or out of school hours. On the pupil's KOTES 433 way to and from school it is usually held that the authority of the teacher is concurrent with that of the parent.* "So far as offences arc concerned for which pupils committing them would be answerable to the laws, such as larceny, trespass, etc. ^ * * * it is the wisest course generally for the teacher (whatever be his legal power) to let the offender pass into tiie hands of judicial or parental authority, and thus avoid being involved in controversies with parents and others, and exposing himself to the liberty of being harassed by prosecution at law. " But as to any misdemeanors of which the pupils are guilty in pas:ing from the school-house to their homes which directly and injuriously affect the good order and government of the school, such as truancy, wilful tardiness, quarrelling with other children, the use of indecent and profane language, etc., there can be no doubt that these matters come within the jurisdiction of the teacher, and are properly matters for discipline in the school." See Bardeen's "Common School Law ", pages 78-83. Page ^Q^— United States currency only.— In the number of the District School Journal that reviews the first edition of this book (vii. 318, Feb., 1847) we find that though shillings are not men- tioned the price of nearly every book advertised is an even num- ber of shillings, showing that the shilling is the usual basis of sale. Thus Thomson's "Mental Arithmetic " is 12^ cents, and his "Intellectual Algebra" 37^ cents. Curiously enough, how- ever, Thomson's ' ' Practical Arithmetic " is 37 cents, the only exception among the prices given. " The " Yankee shilling" of New England is still a sixth of a dollar, while the " York shilling " of the middle and western States is an eighth of a dollar. * In New York, however, the Superinteudents have uniformally ruled that the teacher canuot punish for disorder committed outside the school- grounds. 434 THEORY AKD PRACTICE OF TEACHIISTG Page 866 — The teacher's blunders.— The wisest teacher may sometimes be asked a legitimate question he cannot answer, or may have his answer justly challenged. But he will look the matter up before the next recitation, and be prepared to speak with authority. The habit in school of looking up in the diction- ary and at the time any word of w^hich the spelling or the pro- nunciation or the meaning is doubtful, is in itself no small element of an education. Page ^m—Bcnison Olmsted (1791-18—) was graduated from Yale College in 1813, and after teaching in a select school, and in the University of North Carolina, became in 1825 professor of mathe- matics and physics at Yale, where he remained till death. But he was always greatly interested in common-school education. His oration in 1815 was on " The State of Education in Connecticut", in which he advocated "an Academy for Schoolmasters ". In 1840, while a member of the Connecticut board of education, he once more urged the starting of a normal school. Pie lectured before the American Institute of Instruction in 1838 on "The School System of Connecticut", and in 1845 upon "The Ideal of the Perfect Teacher". The quotation here given is from the latter address. Page SSd—Eeicardsof the teacher. —Another side of this question was presented at the National Educational Association, 1885, in a paper on ' ' Teaching as a Business for Men " (Proceedings, pages 138-150). Conditions have changed much for the better since then, however, and the author of that paper says in the School Bulletin for Oct., 1892 (xix. 15): "There is probably no other KOTES 485 profession to-day where there are proportionally to the number of real workers so many mcomes above $1,500 as in teaching. It docs not take a great man to secure one of these places. As we said last month, loyalty and steadfastness are the qualities that count, and when salaries rise above $2,000 the places have to hunt for the men, not the men for the places." TOPICAL ANALYSIS, FOR REVIEWS PAGE Chapteu I. SPIRIT OF THE TEACHER - - 25 I. Ills MOTIVES ------ 26 ii. PREPAKATION IN OTHER PROFESSIONS - - 2G, 91 A. None requikeu in teaching - - - - ~'<'i ^07 Ul. TEACHING MADE A STEPPING-STONE - - 28 Iv. IGNORANCE A SIN ; INDIFFERENCE A HOMICIDE - 29 Chapter II RESPONSIBILITY OF THE TEACHER 30 i. Ill THE NEGLECTED PEAR-TREE - - - 30 A. The moral garden - - - - - 33 1. Education necessary to development ■ - 35 2. It should begin early - - - - - .35 3. It should he a right education _ .. _ 35 4. The educator should be safe and honest - - - 35 ii. THE TEACHER IS RESPONSIBLE - - - :i6 A. For the bodily health of the child - - - 36 Ii. For his intellectual growth - _ - 37^ 407 1. The order of study - . - - 37,408 a. Reading - - - - - - 38, 72 &. Spelling and dejiiiing - - - - 38, 72 C. Mental ariUnneiic - - - - - .38, 408 Recitation without books - - - - 38 d. Geography - - - - - 39, 76 e. Hiatonj - - - - - 39, 76 /. Penmanship - - - - -39,76 g. Written arithmetic _ _ _ _ 40,77,408 h. Composition, ----- 40 i. Grammar - - - - - 40, 77, 1.39 2. The manner of study - - - - 41 a. Not the words but the subject - - - - 42 (436) TOPICAL ANALYSIS, POR EEVIEAVS 437 PAGE 3. Collateral study . _ - - - 43 C. For his moral training - - - - - 4 J 1. Example before precept - - - - 45 2. Cultivation of the conscleuce - - - 45, 174, 409 3. The school no place for unprincipled teachers - - 47 D. For his religious training - - - - 48 1. No sectarian bias ----- 40 2. Especially no example of skepticism - -^ - 50 B. Who is sufficient for these things V - - - 51 1. Recognition of responsibility _ _ - 51,92 2. An honest mind, with the requisite Industry - - 52 ill. III. THE AUBURN STATE PRISON - - - - 52 A. Why were those men there ? - - - 53 1. III. Wyatt, the murderer - - - - 53 2. The Sunday service ----- 54 3. Weakness of moral principle - - - - 56 a. Res-ponsibiUty of the teacher - - - 56 Chapter III. PERSONAL HABITS OF TEACHER 59, 410 i. MAN A BUNDLE OF HABITS _ - - . 59 A. Neatness and cleanliness - - - - 60 1. The morning bath - - - - - 60, 410 2. The teeth and the nails - - - - 61, 410 3. Attire ------ ci 4. Use of tobacco - - - - - - 62 ' B. Order and system ----- 62 • C. Courtesy ----- 63, 368 1. Pure thoughts ----- (53 2. Accurate language - - - - 63, 139, 410 3. True politeness - - - 64, 183, 185, 188, 194, 2^:4 a. III. The two teachers - - - - - 65 f). Manners taught botJi bi/ example and by precept 65, 141, 209 D. Punctuality - - - - - - 66 1. As marked in dismissing as in opening - - 66 E. Habits OP study ----- 67,328,411 ii. THE CHARACTER OF THE TEACHER - - - 68 A. Let the motto be "• Excelsior " - - - -69 438 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHIN^G PAGE Chapteu IV. LITERARY QUALIFICATIONS OF THE TEACHER - - - . 1. THE STANDARD OF PREPARATION ADVANCING .1. Advance in salaries of teacheks B Competent knowledge required of teachers - 1. Ortliograpliy - - . _ _ a. Phonics - - 2. Reading - _ . _ _ a. " Talcing the sense " of a iMvagraph 1). Acqnaintance loilh Latin and Greeic desirable 3. Penmansliip . - - _ 4. Geography - - _ _ _ 5. History _ . _ _ _ 6. Mental arithmetic _ _ _ _ a. Mr. Page's exiierienre with Colbtirn's 1). '■'' Semis'" in arithmetic - _ _ _ 7. Written aritlimetic - - - - 8. English grammar - - „ _ a. Warning against conceit 9. Algebra ---„__ 10. Geometry _ _ _ _ _ 11. Plain trigonometry aucl surveying - - - 12. Physics - - - _ . 13. Chemistry - - - - - - 80 14. Physiology ------ 80,413 a. The laws of hiigiene - - ~ - •SO b. Best taught through, the teacher - ■* - 82 15. Intellectual philosophy - - - - - 82 IG. Moral philosophy ----- 82 17. Rhetoric and logic - - - - -83 18. Book-keeping ----- 83 a. Neglected in the New Fork, scJiools of iskf> - 83, 413 19. Civics ---„-- SI, 413 20. Drawing - - - - - 85, 270 2l! Vocal music - - - - - - 85, 413 c. Importance of general knowledge - - 86, 328 - 70 70 71, ,412 72 - 72 72 72, ,412 73 75, 412 76 - 76 76 - 76 76 - 139 77 77, ,139 78 - 78 ro, 412 - 79 79 TOPICAL ANALYSIS, FOR REVIEWS 430 PAGE 1. Temptation to neglect - - - 87, 129, 413 D. Select a subject to read ok write upon - - 87, 330, 334 Chapter V. RIGHT VIEWS OF EDUCATION - 89 1. THE ARTIST MFST HAVE AN IDEAL - - - 89, 414 A. The teacher the sculptor of the soul - - 90 1. Necessity of preparation - - - - - ^l ii. THE TEACHER MUST HAVE JUST VIEWS OF EDUCATION 91, 414 A. Knowledge alone not education - - - - 93 1. No education without knowledge - ~ - 93 B. Discipline of mind the great thing - - - 93 C. Moral development 96 ilL " GOOD SCHOLARS " OFTEN MAKE WORTHLESS YiE^ 07, 162 A. Dull scholars often come to the front 97, 185, 188, ;343, 351 B. The active mind may be unduly stimulated - - 98 C. In teaching, what is sown is reaped - - - 99 Chapter VI. RIGHT MODES OF TEACHING - 100 i. APTNESS TO TEACH _ - - - 100, 132 A. An acquired power _ . - - lOO, 133 iL DEGREE OF ASSISTANCE GIVEN TO PUPILS - 101, 415 J.. The " pouring-in " process - - -103,356,415 1. A " passive recipient " is a two-gall m jug - 103, 1'27 J5. The "drawing-out"' process - - -105,146,415 1. III. Lessons in aritlimetic and In history - - 105 a. A niethoa of stupefying mind - - - - 109 ?). The pupil should do Oie talking - - - 109 C. The more excellent way 110 1. The pupil taught self-reliance - - - 110 2. Help the pupil to help himself - - - - m ill. WAKING UP MIND ----- 113, '202 A. General exercises _ - - - - 113 Ills. 1. " What is this ear of corn for ? " - - - 114, 415 2. " Do other plants have seeds ? " - - i~i 3. "Do all plants have seeds?" - - - 122 4. "Do trees have seeds?" - - - 122 5. "Does the elm have seeds?" - - - 123 6. "How are seeds disseminated?" - - 125 440 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING PAGE 7. "Are plants propagated in any other way ?" - 125 8. " Have any plants more ways than one ? " - 126 B. Advantages of this method over lectures - - 126 1. It arouses the minds of the pupils - - 127 a. Thehahitof ooservation - - -^ - 127 2. It arouses the minds of the parents - - 128 3. It arouses the mind of the teacher - - - 129 C. Oral instruction not to supplant text-books - 130, 357, 416 Chapter VII. CONDUCTING RECITATIONS - 132 i. APTNESS TO TEACH ----- 132 .1. An acquired power ----- 133 B. How IT MAY BE ATTAINED _ _ - _ 134 C. Natural order of presenting a subject - - 135 D. The teacher's needs in conducting recitations - 135 1. Thorough knowledge of the subject - - 135, 366, 416 a. Use of text-liooTc in class - - - 135, 417 1). Asking the printed qnesUons - - - 136 2. Preparation for each lesson _ _ _ 137 a. The conn non-place book _ _ _ i38, 329, 417 3. Correct and fluent language - _ _ 139 4. Animation - - - - - -140,417 a. The pupils catcli the teac7ier''s manner - - 141 5. The flxed attention of the class - - - 141 6. A variation In methods _ _ ^ 142, 202 7. Clearness in explanation - - - - 143 a. III. Carrying one for every ten - - - 143,417 J). If unable to explain., say so - - - - 144 1. III. " More requires more " - - - 145 8. Promptness and accuracy in recitation - - 146 9. Answers hy the class individually - - 146 a. The Lancasterian method - - - - 147, 418 ii. STUDY SHOULD BE MORE ATTRACTIVE THAN PLAY 148 iii. THE RECITATION IS THE TEACHERS OPPORTUNITY 148 Chapter VIII. EXCITING INTEREST IN STUDY 149 i. INCENTIVES TO STLT)Y - - - - ^ 150 A. Emulation - - - - - 150, 205 TOPICAL AN^ALYSIS, FOR REVIEWS 441 PAGE 1. A question much discussed - - - - 150, 419 2. Tlie sliield lias two sides - - - - 152 a. Self -emulation is commendable _ _ - 152, 305 B. Desire to surpass others is unworthy - - 153 1. A principle of human nature - - - 156 2. An active principle in the practical world - - 156 3. But not needed for the pupil - - - - 157 4. Not expedient _ - _ - - 157 B. Prizes always productive of evil - - - 158 1. Give undue prominence to unworthy object - 160 2. Engender rivalry among the pupils - - - I6O, 226 3. Stimulate the lew, hut discourage the many - 161, 166 a. Prize scholars seldom eminent men - - 162 b. Malce the most of all the impils - - 163 4. Difftcult to award prizes justly - - - 163 n. III. A '•'•unanimous'' report on compositions - 163 b. Other things beside merit to consider - - 165 1. Difference in external facilities - - 165 2. Improper means employed - - - 165 5. Success and talent rewarded ; not effort and worth 167 a. God rewards effort _ _ _ _ 168,419 6. Effort for prize ceases when prize is awarded - 169 7. Good influence cf excellent pupils lost - - 169 8. Rewards less objectionable, but unnecessary - 170, 205 C. Proper incentives _ _ - - - 171 1. Desire for approbation _ - - - 171 2. Desire of advancement - - - - 172 3. Desire to be useful _ _ _ - 173 4. Desire to do right __ - - - 173 a. Cultivation of cunscience - - - 174 5. Pleasure of acquisition _ _ _ - 176, 420 a. Amazing acquisition in infancy - - 176 b. Noticeable in the blind, tlie deaf and dumb - - 177 c. Contim(es in mature years _ _ - 178 d. The all-pervading desire to know - - - 179 442 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHHS^^G Chapter IX. SCHOOL GOVERNMENT. - i. REQUISITES IN THE TEACHER - A. Self-government - - - 1. The passion of anger 2. Levity and moroseness of manner a. III. Jacob AbboWs neio teacher 3. Treatment of backward pupils B. Confidence in his ability to govern - C. Just views of government 1. Not my school, but our school 2. Manner must he uniform from day to day - 3. Discipline must be equal and impartial 4. Approbation, affection, conscience appealed to 5. Decision and firmness needed a. Regard for liersonal convenience 1. III. James gets his drink of water 6. Deep moral principle _ - _ ii. MEANS OF SECURING GOOD ORDER .1. Take care as to first impression you make 1. Respect precedes attachment B. Do not show suspicious spirit 1. Depraved boy reformed by confidence 2. Dr. Franklin gained over enemies l)y asking favors C. Begin regular work at once D. Make but few rules _ _ _ 1. The great rule of duty _ _ _ 2. Is it right ? vs. Is it forbidden ? 3. Arbitrary rules work injustice a. III. William and Charles boUi fernied 4. Do not threaten _ _ _ - E. Wake up mind in the school and thk district 1. Have vocal music in school - - - F. Visit the parents _ _ _ G. Keep registers of standing ~ H. Do not govern too much - - - 1. III. A Class in grammar _ _ _ - 182, 184, 185, 188, PAGE 181 181 181, 211 182, 4;20 187,420 193, 421 343, :i51 185,422 186 186 187, 368 187, 422 183 190 190 191 192 193 193 194 195 195 198 196 197 198 198 199 199 201 202 203, 422 204 205, 423 206 207 TOPICAL ANALYSIS, FOR KEVIEWS 443 PAGE 2. Another teacher, and another school - - 210 3. Death-like stillness not desirable - - 211 iii. PUNISHMENTS .... - 212 .1. Definition ------ 212 1. Purpose of punishment - - - - 313 B. Authority to inflict punishment - - - 213 1. Fear and shame low principles _ - _ 214 2. Two classes of punishments - - - 215 C. Improper punishments - _ - - 216 1. Those that excite feeling of indignity - • 216 a. T he head should be free frorti attacli - - :;^17, 251 1. Scolding also undignified _ > , 217 2. Blaclcguard threats - - - - 219 2. Those that involve prolonged torture - 220 a. Holding the Bible at arm's length - - 220 b. '•'■Holding a nail into the floor ^' - - ■ 222 c. '■'•Sitting on notJiing'^ _ - _ .. 222 3. Ridicule ------ 223 a. Makes affection impossible - - • 2:24 b. Calls forth worst feelings in school - - 225 1. III. Mary tells a lie - - 225 D. Proper Punishments - - - - 227 1. Kind reproof _ - _ _ -^-y^, 250 2. Loss of privileges - - - - 228, 423 3. Restraint or confinement _ _ _ -22% 244 4. Humiliation ----- 230 5. Imposition of a task _ . . 031^ 423 6. Corporal punishment _ „ _ _ 030^ 434 a. The teacher must establish authoritu - 234 1. Children come unprepared to obey - - 236, 424 il. Many teachers lack preparation - - 237, 241 ill. District quarrels enter tlie schoolroom - - 239 b. Often teacher rmist punish or fail - - 241 1. Should not publish that he will not punisli - 242 ii. Use the f-od as a last resort - - - 243 c. Substitutes for the rod - - - - 344 444 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING i. Solitary couflnement - . - 11. Expulsion _ _ _ a. Corporal PunisJitnentjustijiable e. LimUations and suggestions 1. Must be best thing for the specific case ii. Must not be inflicted in anger iii. Must be Inflicted before tlie school iv. Must be delayed till anger subsides V. Instrument and manner must be proper vi. Should be made effectual vii. Must be avoided on slight occasion /. Avoid generalizing from scanti/ inductions g. Avoid Tiasty piiblic " resolntions " E. Minimum punishment, maximum excellence Chapter X. SCHOOL ARRANGEMENTS i. THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL A. Have a plan to start with 1. Visit the district before school begins a. No disparagement of former teachers b. Visit the poor as icell as tJie rich 2. Get acquainted before school opens a. Be at school early ii. PLANNING THE DAY'S WORK A. III. The teacher without a plan B. Scheme of the day's duties 1. Provide for studying, as well as for recitation 2. Specimen programme - - . a. Alternate studies 3. Programme of Albany Normal, 1846 Hi. INTERRUPTIONS A. III. The grammar lesson - - _ B. A time for everything iii. RECESSES ----- A. How MANY ? - B. One each half-day for each sex - 1. Duration _ - - _ page 244 - 245, 424 247 248 248,253 - 248, 251 249 251 251 251 253 253 254 25G 258, 424 25S 260, 265, 424 260 261 262 263 - 264, 424 265 268 ), 424, 425 271 274 275 276 279, 425 286, 424 280 280, 425 281 TOPICAL ANALYSIS, ^OU REVIEWS 445 PAGE 2. Propel- hour _ . _ _ - 282,425 iv. ASSIGNING LESSONS ----- 283 .4. Not how much but how well - _ - 034^ 346, 426 V. REVIEWS ------ 285 A. Make practical application _ . _ 28G B. General review at close of study - - - 286 vi. PUBLIC EXAMINATIONS - - - -288,426 .1. Objections ------ 288 1. Not fair criterion of tlie teaclier - - - 288 2. Nor of tlie pupils ----- 289 3. Tempt to dlslionesty of teaclier - - - 289 n. The teacher should be strictly honest - 290, 338, 351 1. No special preparation lor show - - - 291, 426 Chafter XL TEACHER'S RELATION TO PARENTS 293 i. THE TEACHER SHOULD SEEK FREQUENT INTERCOURSE 294 ii. HE SHOULD BE WILLING TO EXPLAIN HIS PLANS - 295, ;i52 .1. "No tales out OF SCHOOL" _ _ - ogg iii. SHOULD ENCOURAGE FREQUENT VISITS - - 297 A. And SHOW the school as it is - - - 297, 339 iv. SHOULD BE FRANK IN REPRESENTING THE PUPILS - 298, 426 V. SHOULD HAVE THE HABITS OF A GENTLEMAN - 298 vi. SHOULD NOT DESPISE THEIR '^ OUT-DOOR WORK " - 300,426 Chapter XII. TEACHER'S CARE OF HIS HEALTH 302 i. IMPORTANCE OF HEALTH _ _ _ - 303, 427 ii. EXERCISE - - - - - - ;304 A. Walking ------ 304 B. RroiNG ON horseback _ _ - - 305, 427 C. Gardening ------ ;306 n. Rowing, skating, driving, etc - _ - 306 E. Air, light, water ----- ;307 iii. SLEEP ------ 309 iv. DIET ------- 309 A. Suggestions as to food. - - - - ,S09 1. It should he simple ----- 309 2, Talcen at intervals sufficiently distant - - 310 446 THEORY A^D PRACTICE OF TEACIIIN(} PAGE 3. In moderate quantity - _ _ _ ;]ii^ 427 4. Fat to be avoided - _ _ _ .310 5. Fruit eaten with discretion - - _ _ 312 6. Drinlc water, and only at meals - - •■ ;u2, 427 7. Avoid exertion after a meal - - - - ■ 312 V. DRESS _ 310^ 315 Vi. CHEERFULNESS - - _ _ _ 313 Vii. MUSIC ------ 314 Viil. AVOID WRAPPING UP THE NECK - - _ 315 Chapteh XITI the TEACHERS PvELATION TO HIS PROFESSION - - 818,428,435 L TEACHING SHOULD BE A PROFESSION - - 318 A. Too LITTLE DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT - - 319 B. Better teachers, higher pay - _ - 301^ 408 11. THE PERSONAL DUTY OF TEACHERS TO THEIR CALLING 322 A. Importance of self-culture - _ _ 3^3 1. He lias time for it - _ _ - - 3^5 2. Such work finds immediate reward - - 326 B. Means of self-culture _ . _ _ 3^7 1. A course of professional reading - - _ 3-37^ 428 2. A course of general study - _ - _ 3.^ 3. The common-place book _ _ . 309 lii. THE MUTUAL DUTIES OF TEACHERS TO THEIR CALLING 330 A. Mutual aid - - - - - 331 1. Mutual visitation - - - - - 332 2. Use of the columns cf a newspaper - - 334 3. Teachers' associations _ _ _ _ 3:35 B. Suggestions as to professional intercourse - 338 1. Be honest --__-. 00^^ 4;jo a. Shoiv everii-Gay trork _ - _ 339 2. Adapt but do not adopt the plans of others - - 340 3. Avoid self-sufficiency _ _ _ _ 341 Chapter XIV. MISCELLANEOUS SUGGESTIONS 342 1. HINTS FROM TWENTY YEARS' EXPERIENC;E - ,342 A. Things to be avoided - - - - 343 TOPICAL ANALYSIS, FOR llEVlLWS 417 PAGE 1. Guard against prejudice on entering a school - 342 a. Mn<4 a f tractive pup ils 1 lot aJica ijs laorllu'est - ,112, 4;30 2. Keep the direction of the puiMls' studies - 344, 4;j0 a Do not teach too many tilings - - - PAG 4. Do only school worlc iii school hours - - ;:48, ill 5. Avoid excuses to visitors - - . _ 048 6. Donotcompai-epupils - - _ _ 351 7. Avoid wounding the sensibilities of the dull - - 351 8. Do not lose patience with parents - - 352, 431 9. Never malce study of the Bible a punishment - 353 10. Ride no "hobbies" a. Oral instruction G5t 355, 431 b. A favorite l)rancJi of fttudy - . _ 3.^ V. Prefereitceforhir/herhranclies - - - 359 B. Things to be performed - - _ _ ^59 1. Convince your pupils you are a friend - - 359 2. Keep the schcolhouse in good order - - 361 a. Cmiauctonvmy toanafrom scJiool - - 362,433 3. Teach decimal currency only _ _ _ 363 4. Sometimes reprove by general instruction - - 365 a. III. Killiua four birds 11- i (hone stone - - 365 5. Be accurate - - - - _ 366, 431 G. Wear a pleasant countenance - . _ 303 a. A matter of self-control - - _ _ 3rJ 7. Study the art of illustrating - . _ 371 (I. Til. The attJ-act ion. of gravity - - _ 372 8. Seize opportunities for moral impression - - 376 His. a. The thunder -shoiiier - - .377 b. The o-nthnrst of the sun. - - - 383 Chapter XV. THE REWARDS OF THE TEACHER 389, 435 I. MEAGRE MONEY REWARD - - - - 389 II. YET RE^VARD IN OTHER WAYS - - - 391 .4. Some considerations - _ _ _ ;^2 1. Opportunity f jr intellectual growth - - - 332 2. Means of moral growth - - - _ S92 3. Conscious Improvement in teaching - - - 394 448 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING PAGE 4. Gratincation in mental growth of pupils ' - - 394 a. " These were my inipils " ^ - - 395 5. 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