Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1861-09-26

from the Third Biennial Report of the
Superintendent Of Public Instruction
Of the State of Illinois, ls59-ls6O
Among the most simple, inexpensive
and efficient means Of improving the
condition OF our common schools, is
the organization OF what arc known
as Teachers Institutes. These are
simply meetings or conventions OF
teachers, for the purpose Of mutual
Improvement in the science and art OF
teaching. 1t must be obvious to eve.
ry candid mind, that an Institute is
an cminently plain, unpretcnding,
practical agency for improving our
teachers, and through them our schools.
1t is not a theoretical device, mere
ncw-fanglcd notion, bat the healthy
offspring Of practical necessity
suggested by actual need; and based
upon the plaincst principles of reason
and common sense.
Farmers have their agricultural So
cicties, their fairs, and their convc.,-
tons physicians have their associa
tions and meet in conventions to In
vcstigate new types of disease and
determine the best methods Of treat
ment clergymen have their convoca.
tons, synods, associations and confer
ences 50 Of bank, railroad and insu-
rance corporations--of merchants and
manufacturers, and other organized
bodies of men, in all the different de-
velopments Of human enterprise they
all have their own special means OF
development and progress. In view
of these facts, the wonder is, not that
similar associations have been formed
among teachers, for the same end,
mutual Improvement and the advance.
ment Of the. educational cause, but
that they were not instituted at an
earlier day.
The benefits of these conventions
TO the teachers who attend them. and
to the schools and community, are in,
calculable. The advantages to the
teachers are general and special, pro.
fessionai and social. Through the
lectures and addresses Of eminent cd
ucators and scholars, they obtair
broader and clearer views of the laws
of mental development, and the tru,
philosophy of teaching. They lcarI
that many teachers do not succeed
because they themselves have never
been, edacaieli because they have mis-.
taken more knowledge for discipline
the power of remembering and know.
ing for the power of methodical think
ing and reasoning the knowledge o
a thousand isolated facts for the mas.
terry Of u single all embracing princi
pic. They learn that to be truly
successful teacher, involves more thar
they had ever dreamed Of before
that, while anybody can" keep school, :
none ibuta scholar, and, to some ex
tent. a philosopher can educate. Teach
ers who have never before rightly es
timatcd the, Importance and difficulty
of their work, are thus led to Judge o
their r.own. attainments by the light o.
a true standard, to " magnify their Of
fcc," and put forth the necdful efforts
to become teachers indeed. ~ s'
1t is fact which cannot be denied
that comparatively few teachers anl
school officers really know what SOL
of an education they are providing
wlicther.it is well or ill,adapted to tn,
purpose intended. And hence, mel
who, can " keep the children still y ST,
hours day, and hear them |" sa,
their lessons" are deemed &c to b,
teachers. At the Institute the fallac,
of these views is exposed, and thei
mischievous results are pointed out.
But not only are Teachers Inst
tutes of great value as conducive to I
more adequate conception of the cxa
ted character of the. work and th
broad philosopllic principles upor
which it must.bc conducted, but ais,
in aflording direrf assistance in partic
ular cases.. 1t often happens that th
teacher ia in doubt about some poin
in grammar, some principle in science
some problem in mathematics, or som,
question of government. The clou,
may have remained for years, and tn
point over which it rested have beel
anticipated with uneasiness, and pas
scd with misgiving and dissatisfac
ton. The teacher is troubled by tn
consciousness that he does not clcarl
comprehend the subject himself, an,
Of course cannot make it plain to otl
crs--the thought haunts and depres
cs him. This is not a fancy picture
it is confirmed by the experience {
many teachers. Now, let that teacl
er go 10 an Institute and state his tl
4 iiculty, and, III nine cases out of tel
he will iini, among the shrewd and c,
/ pcricnced teachers present, q complct