New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-06-04

OF the State Superintendent of Public
Education at the Teachers Institute,
held at Lyceum Hall, New Orleans,
lime y. 1871. 60

Ladies and gentlemen of the Institute:
You are the educators of 10000 children.
Do men despise your work If they do,
answer them by saying that you are edu-
eating 10000 children. Do men think less
of YOU because you work Answer them
by saying, "Our work is noble; our living is
obtained honestly and honorably.'' Do men
say that teaching is an undesirable and I'M
necessary employment Answer them. that
you seize, hold, direct and frame for time
and, perhaps, for eternity, the minds of
10000 children; that to. you is given the
duty of shaping the character of the State,
by molding that of her statesmen; that all
elements of the nations greatness, her
strength her progress, her morals and her
peace, receive their first contributions from
the lessons of the schoolroom, where you
work. This city, twenty years from now,
will be what you make it. Pc rt .y-i-.',
The active young men and women who
will then be upon the stage of action are
now your pupils The life they will be
living, the employments in which they will
then have engaged, the duties which they
will then be discharging as citizens, will, in
a great degree, have derived their character
from you.
Teachers, you, have the confidence, the
respect the sympathy of every liberal
minded and good citizen OF this city and
State Sensible men and women accord TO
you the most deserving praise offered to
any of our public servants. And why not
WHY not have confidence in yOu2 You
work faithfully and well. Why not respect
youl Your service is of the utmost value to
the community, since it trains the mind,
adorns the character, and makes the citizen
what he should be. Why should you not
have sympathy Your labor is burden
upon both the body and mind, while it is
never as fully or promptly compensated as
,t she ha is
called teaching. You teach others what to
think, how to think. and how to make good
use of their thoughts.
What is the great object which you have
in view What is the grand aim to which
all this work of instruction tends Is 1t
not to develop the whole being-the moral
the intellectual, the physical Is 1t not
that the community made up of men and
women of culture, men and women who
viii be useful citizens, may be peaceful
prosperous, happy! Is not your work of
education one looking not only to the COM
mon necessities and cOnveniences OF the
present life, but also to that future state of
existence to which every human being looks
so anxiouslyl Public instruction has come
to be considered in enlightened countries as
a fundamental necessity-One without
which society can neither be securer or pros
perOus.s
1t may not be uninteresting at this insti-
tute to mention something of what some of
the leading minds of the world say concern
ing it. When | place the name of Horace
Mann first on the roll OF those who have
left on record their Endorsement of public
education, | do so because his memory is
greenest among all, and especially so with
Americans. This noble man said
The great necessities of race like ours,
in world like ours, are: A body, grown
from its elemental beginning, in health,
compacted with strength and vital
with activity in every part; impressive
to heat and cold, and victorious over the
vicissitudes of seasons and zones; not Grip
pied by disease nor stricken down by early
death; not shrinking from bravest effort,
but painting, like tieetest runner, less for the
prize than for the joy of the race; and reju-
venant amid the frosts of age. A mind, as
strong for the immortal as the body for the
mortal life; alike enlightened by the wis
dom and beaconed by the errors of the past;
through intelligence of the laws of nature
guiding her elemental forces, as it directs
the limbs of its own body through the
nerves of motion, thus making alliance
with the exhaustless forces of nature for it's
strength, and clothing it with its endless
charms for its beauty. and, wherever it
goes carrying a sun in its hands with which
to explore the realms of nature. and reveal
her vet hidden truths. and then moral
nature, presiding like divinity over the
whole, banishing sorrow and pain, gather
ing in earthly joys and immortal hopes, and
TRANSPORTED and rapt by the sovereign and
sublime aspiration to know and do the will
of God" -
The venerable DIR. Wayland, enc of New
England's noblest sons, now gone from
earth, said: 1.-The object of education is to
render the mind the fittest possible instru
ment for discovering. applying or obeying
1,a N boS MI
universe" And this is your work. This is
the great object in which you are engaged,
''to render the mind the fttest possible in
strument for discovering, applying and
obeying the laws under which God has
placed this universe" What a great duty!
How serious a responsibility rests upon us
all.
John Milton said: II call complete edu-
cation that which fits a man to perform
justly, skillfully and magnanimously all the
offices, both private and public, of peace
end war"
The celebrated Bishop Short said of pub
lie education: "As this life is preparation
for eternity, so is education preparation
for this life, and that education alone is
valuable which answers these great primary
objects"
And Thomas Braun said Education is
the act which places a child in the cOndi-
ton to fulfill, as nearly as possible, his des
tiny as a mortal and immortal being. 1t
has for its aim the development of his
faculties as man, physical, intellectual,
moral, social, and religious, in such proper
ton that through their harmonious action
he will escape the punishments which await
the bad, and become worthy the awards re-
served to virtue"
Ruskin said of education: ~ believe that |
what is most honorable to know it is also |
most profitable to learn: and that the science |
which it is the highest power to possess, it /
is also the best exercise to acquire; and if |
this be so, the question as to what should |
be the material of education becomes sin
gularly simplitied.
sit might be matter of dispute what pro-
cesses have the greatest effect in develop
ing the intellect, but it can hardly be dis
puted what facts it is most advisable that a
man entering into life should accurately
know. / believe, in brief, that he ought to
know three things; first, where he is; sec
ondly, where he is going; thirdly, what he
had better do under these circumstances.
First, where he is-that is TO say, what
sort of world he has got into; how large
it is; what kind of creatures live in it, and
how; what it is made of, and what may be
made of it, Secondly, where he is going
that is to say, what chances or reports there
are of any other world beside this; what |
seems to be the nature of that other world
and whether, for information respecting it,
he had better consult the Bible the Koran,
or the Council of Trent. Thirdly, what he
had best do under the circumstances-that |
is to say, what kind of faculties he pos
sesses; what are the present state and wants
of mankind: what is his place in society,
and what are the readiest means in his
power of obtaining happiness and ditfusing
II The man who knows these things and