The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1874-01-10
TEACHING.

There is vulgar notion prevailing that
a bright man should not make teaching
his business for life. For this feeling there
was some reason quarter of a century
ago; but there is no excuse for it to-day;
and when we hear a person deploring that
certain promising young man Is throw
ing himself away by teaching, we set that
person down as an ignorant, antiquated
BOBBY. Teaching aoas slavery; it is art
1t ,oas make-shift; it Is profession. As
people become able to teach, teaching be-
comes easy to them. Teaching is the only
profession that is rising. The best teach
ers now get'nearly as much as they deserve.
The average teacher will receive more pay
than the average clergyman, lawyer or
physician, before ten years shall have
passed over us. The average teacher gets
more to-day than the average lawyer gets
legitimately by his practice. The ply
sician's life has hardships in it which make
that profession undesirable to many; and
the clergyman will stand second to the
schoolmaster as soon as people dare open
their eyes. As to journalism, it is mix
ture of starvation and blackmailing.-
Teaching is the profession of the future.
1t is now the most potent in shaping the
future, but the fact is not generally known.
The principal of large city school does
more good or evil with word than the six
or eight clergymen in his district do in
their twenty-five years of pulpit-pounding.
The public school is the church of Ameri-
ca. 1t has always been honorable and
profitable to be high priest in any church.
We should not compare teaching with
business employments. The comparison is
not fair. In business there are opportuni-
ties and risks. In teaching there is GER
tainty. There are no pedagogical dead
beats. Can the lawyers, clergymen and
doctors say the same of the members of
of their respective professions: If a mans
sole aim in life is to make money, teach
ing is not his proper occupation; but if
he wants to live in scholarly pursuits, to
have some leisure, to be respectable, to do
the greatest amount of good, to dwell in
have always the power to give happiness
and receive gratitude, lie will select teach
ing for his lifelong employment. That
justice is not yet done the teacher we will
allow, but the future of his profession is in
his own hands. How shall he shape it to
his advantage and the advantage of his
successors? We answer: 1. By being a
student; 2. By being manly and not servile
in his intercourse with his superior officers;
3. BY sustaining the literature of his class.
The religious denominations retire certain
of their ministers from the pulpit to fight
the Devil with the pen. Teachers would
do we'll to do likewise; f. By attending in
stitutes and saying something when he has
anything to say, not otherwise; 5. By rails
ing the standard of admission to the pro-
fession, and thereby keeping prices well up;
6. By mercilessly exposing mountebanks
in his calling, belaboring them with satire
till they rush off to the show business, to
which they properly belong.
The arrogance of the Romans made the
law noble profession. Superstition has
exalted the clergyman to height very
disproportionate to his real power to do
good and his knowledge Of what is good
in many instances. The very sensible re-
suits of physical disorder and the comfort
of having suffering alleviated have madeit
necessary for the physician to prepare HIM
self more or less thoroughly for his ardu-
GUS calling, and his standing is CORES
pondingly high. AS people depend on
supernatural agencies, the schoolmaster
goes down; as they begin to have conf
dence in unaided human intelligence, the
schoolmaster goes up. The mind is moro
delicate and important instrument than
the body. How many minds are dwarfed
and distorted every year by the malpractice
of pedagogical doctors? People are be-
ginning to understand the importance Of
using the best talent to aid the develop
ment of mind. Quacks and pettifoggers
may grumble at the rewards of teachingi
they would be quacks and pettifoggers in
any calling. TEACHING IS THE PROFESS
SION OF THE FUTURE.
JEREMIAH MAHoNEY.