The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1861-09-19
WHAT ARE A TEACHERS DUTIES,

| appointed by the Cedar County Teachers As
| sociation.l
WHAT ARE A TEACHERS DUTIES
"Surely,' l hear some one say, "it
you are teacher, and do not know what
your duties are, you had better resign
your situation and give room to those
who do" At first thought it seems as
though it would indeed be wise to fol-
low the advice there given; but few
years experience in the business of teach
ing has convinced me that it not only
requires much wisdom to decide what at
al! times an. under all circumstances it
is best to do, but also the best method of
performing those duties which are made
evident to you.
l would like to have the duties of q
teacher clearly defined l know that
strike chord to which many teachers
hearts will vibrate when say that more
is expected of them than they can per-
form, | speak now of the truiy conscicn-
ttous ones. There are some with whom
the almighty dollar is the only consider
alton there, are others whose object it
would be difficult to tell. do not claim
that all are willing to do as we'll as they
know how but it is not Of those I would
ask an answer to my query.
Placed in school room wLere various
kinds Of intclccts, ages aud dispositions
are promiscuously thrown together, it
becomes the teachers duty to produce
order from disorder, to interest the in
tellect and to arouse the iIIer ambition.
This is what is expected Of you and it is
what you most ardently wish to perform
Weeks Of patient, unwearied toll, on
your part, ensue; you have now,
you think, a good foundation laid
for the future progress Of your school,
The pupils are absorbed in their studies,
and you feel all your panstakiag reward.
ed by the quick e'eam of Intelligence
that breaks over their countenanccs as
you explain to them some hidden myste.
ry; and the sparkling eye, too, tells YOU,
as some hard problem is solved, or some
intricate sentence analyzed, tn where
before all was darkness, light is beginning
to glimmer
But days Lave gliled into weeks,
weeks into months, you scarcely know
VI II, you dare not ask how, and yOrr
*o2k is conp'ctcd; aud, as You r.tro-
S2'ct the past, you see 50 many things
undone which you would ykdIy have
performed, SO much unfinished that YOU
had resolved should be done, that you
dare not say to your pupils, with all these
'mpertectlons in your work glarinc at
you, "lt is well Il at we lave been t, .
gcther' and yet you know that as far as
your duties have been made known to
you, you have performed them wilinuly
a teachers duties are defucd bv some,
to be esponsibilities that angels might
we'll shudder to take upon themselves 4;
they are represented as being entrusted
with the moral and intellectual being of
children. This is, in measure, true ;
but there is an influence back of any
that you can exert that must make or
mar your work. Parents must uphold.
and work riM the teacher. or YOUR work
will be like unto the seed of the sower
which, Fell among thorns, and the
thorns grew up and chokcd it, Itmay
not be that the instructors arc in fault
always, but that other thoughts, aims
and wishes have sprung up in the childs
heart long before lie was entrusted to
your guiding care; aud it is, it seems to
me, not their teachers fault if these de-
sires are not uprooted, which have al
ready struck their roots deep into the
heart, and which are constantly receiving
the fostering care of the hand which first
planted them there. 1t strikes me that
an error is committed in thus defining a
teachers duties. They are responsible
without doubt but it is not the influence
Of the school,room which makes the
deepest impression upon children, nor is
it the one longest remembered Again,
| ask, What are the duties Of Teacher !?
EFF.