Washington telegraph., 1850-10-30
EDUCATIONAL ITEMS.
NuMBEK II.

tiOn that SUCCESS Itself III connection
with this subject, will first claim my at
tention.
What constitutes good school! 1t is
significant fact, that in this day of men-
tai illumination, of great and wonderful
developments in almost every department
of intellectual research, it becomes neces-
sary to urge the point. that the first and
indispensable requisite to good school,
is, that it be under the control OF an
educated teacher. Such, however. is the
fact Glance at this subject for a mo-
ment, with the same practical acumen
that you would use in transacting any
ordinary affair of business or :rade. A
man applies TO you for employment, IN
position that requires some degree of skill
or experience Before entering into an
engagement with this person, you fully
satisfy yourself, that he possesses the
qualifications necessary to the correct
discharge of the duties of his office
Without this knowledge you would not
for moment, entertain the thought OF
engaging his services. The very same
principle regulates your conduct III all
the departments of business, except inI
all others, it should claim your most
watchful care Your State requires thai
attorneys shall undergo an examination,
before they are permitted to engage IN
the practice of their profession. But your
teachers, whose duties are as much high
er, as the object TO be accomplished Is
more noble, are neither required to pass
an examination, nor give any other coDa-
plete evidence of their peculiar fitness Tor
the responsible position of instructers OF
youth.
Suffer me to take the liberty of assur-
ing you, with all earnestness and sincerl-
ty-wlth the sole motive to accomplish
good, that an intimate acquaintance, OF
more than twenty years duration, with
schools and teachers, has convinced me
of the fact, that there is more arrant
quackery among the profession OF teach
ers, than in all the other professions COM
bned.
In short, that among the great host OF
men and women engaged in this perhaps,
the most responsible Of all avocations,
there is less real ability, less peculiar
aptitude of mind, and more reck less pre-
sumption than in any other profession or
employment.
And this state ofthings must necessarily
exist, as long as society continues to re-
quire less evidence of teachers fitness,
than of horse-jockey's skill What are
the special qualifications of good teach
er! 1t would require more space and
leisure than are at my disposal, and, in
deed, more experienced pen than mine,
to answer in detail this interesting qnes-
ton. One point, however, l must urge.
Most prominent in the first should stand
thorough mental training for the work.
The teacher must he all educated man.
He must know thoroughly aud critically
the branches which he is required to
teach. He must know them criticaLiY,
that he may be able to direct his pupil in
the right field of mental Iabor,-to lead
his mind step by step into the correct
appreciation OF the bea uties and iutricacies
of science,-to disclose to his view the
rich treasures of thought which lie COLI
cealed from the gaze of the mere pedant,
and are only discernible by the earnest
and unwearylng seeker after truth He
mus: be acquainted with the various
collateral branches of the sciences which
he presumes to teach, and possess gen
eral knowledge of all the departments of
human progress, that with powers well
developed Dy a rigid mode of training, =
and mind richly stored with the varied
accumulations os the past. he may be
enabled to cast food of light.-by an
ecdote, by explanation. by illustration,
upon the rugged pathway which his
pupils desire to ascend.
He must be student mself,--will-
ing,-nay, eager to bestow any amount
of labor upon the investigation of such
subjects as may demand research. His is
no holiday task. He must come to the
work armed and accoutred at ali points,
and with the willingness to spend aud be
spent in the long and oft-times wearisome
conflict
-''not content that former worth stand fast,
Look forward, persevering to the last
From well to better, daily self surpassed
Wordsworth
What more need I say? The good
teacher is an educated teacher / do not
design to imply 10y this expression, that
he must necessarily have passed through
college and received parchment, set
ting forth in one of the learned languages
his claims to scholarship Far from it,
man may be educated without passing
this very easy ordeal,-and he may be an
ass, and yet have a very large and learn
ed diploma,-such an one, for instance,
as Shakespeare describes as,
ga man that hath mint of phrases in his brain;
One, whom the music of his own vain tongue
Doth ravish like enchanting harmony"
S. L. S.
ScANDALoUs' EXHIBITIONS
the late TaDitOr of tho Roctop Medical