The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1876-02-24
THE TEACHERS PLACE IN THE
WORK OF REFORM.

combined, devolyes the solution OF the
problem of a wise and generous educa-
ton for the entire people. we may
build grand school edifices on every
manifestation OF our territory, we may
hoard UP huge school funds in every
State. we may endoW magnificent IN
situations with all the wealth OF
"Ormus and Of Ind" and yet, without
a full and constant supply OF well-edu-
Gated. skillful, and devoted teachers,
our efforts for universal education will
he in vain. School buildings, school
funds. and endoWments are but inert
machinery. The poSOer resides in the
faithful teacher alone. lie must
breathe into these instruments, as into
a perfected organism, the animating
breath of life. The maxim ''aS is the
teacher, so is the school" may be accep-
ted as an educational axiom. The value
of a school or of a system of schools
depends entirely upon its Qat0tsty.
Vicious methods Of teaching are as
certain to produce bad citizens as the
absence of all teaching. Hence, the
great question is, What shall be the
character and qualifications of our
teachers, and how many Of the right
sort is it possible to produce? ~
The influence Of the teacher should
be no less potent outside of the school
room than within that sacred sanctuary,
He should be able to inform and guide
public sentiment in all that relates to
education. He should be the high
priest of his profession, thoroughly
Informed in it's history, nature, means,
and ends. There is no question con-
nected with it's principles, its methods,
or its polity, which should not be as
familiar to him as household words" "
Since education is his business, he
should comprehend it in all its bear
ings and relations better than any 9th
er persons comprehend it. His inter
ests and his duty alike demand this
thorough acquaintance with his spe-
cialty. The interests of society demand
it: and until the school master becomes
master of the g0hoJe situation, he can
neither receive the consideration due
to his profession, nor can the world
experience the great benefits from his
labors that it so sadly needs.
It remains to be stated that in all
measures for the extension of educa-
ton to destitute localities, or for the
improvement of its quality wherever
it may be needed, the teacher and his
Improvement must be the central
thought. For, wherever any portion
of the race is to be raised from the
degradation of ignorance it must be
done through the poeoe1 Of a0ise teach
ing during the period Of childhood end
QOaLth. Hence, we must provide teach
.ers adequate in numbers, in learning,
in capacity, and in skill, to the magni-
tude of the work to be performed.
We must bear in mind that if ''the
uncultivated cannot be the judges of
CIVILIZATIONS" they cannot surely be
leaders of it. They cannet bring in
telligence out of ignorance. Teachers
of high intellectual, moral, and profess
sional attachments, only, are equal to
the emergency. To build school
houses, supply books and apparatus,
and provide funds will not accomplish
what is needed. Every school must be
blessed with the presence and inspira-
ton of a teacher worthy of the high
vocation Of instructing the people. To
stop short of this, is to neglect the one
condition of all others the most neces-
sary to the successful solution of the
problem. This is the testimony of the
best thinkers and ablest writers upon
education in all parts OF the world
Said. that profound statesman, M.
Guizot, after portraying the character
of true teacher: "To rear masters
0ppYodchi91g to such q model, is q diff
cult task. and get 9Oe mast succeed IN 81,
or else GOe haze done NOTHING for e1e-
ne11tdry instructions
The popular estimate of the requisite
qualifications of teachers is best attes-
ted by the starvation prices which in
multitudeS of cases are paid for their.
services. But their attachments and
capabilities are too often as meagre as
their compensation. The most atten-
uated acquisitions and the utter absence
either of special training Oh. experience
seems to form no bar to their employ
ment by the people, simply because
they are cheap! The consequence is
that the schools are to great extent
in the hands of young masters and
misses who are just in their "teens,'
and who have no clear conception of
the nature of education, or of the means
and appliances whereby the most i'm
portant work of the most critical period
in human existence is to be worthily
performed. Slaves to the textbook, en-
tangled in the harness OF. dull routine,
strangers to the power and the pleas
ure of true knowledge, unskilIed to-
teach, uninspired with love for their
special work, they can scarcely be trus-
ted to guide the footsteps of confiding
childhood into the ways of pleasantnessI
and the paths Of peace. Looking al
little farther on, we shall discover that
this vast army of professional infom-
potency and inexperience actually dis
bands on an average of about once in
four or five years, and is succeeded by
anOther multitude Of llndiScinlinad