Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1876-01-28
THE TEACHERS INSTITUTE.

PILs-ADDRESSEs BY DR.. SEARS, PROF.
OWENS, SUPERINTENDENT LADD, MAJ.
HoTCHKIss, AND OTHERS,
&C., &C, AZ.
The Teachers Institute of Augusta coun-
ty met al the call of DR.. Robt. 5. Hamh-
ton, Wednesday, in the Town Hail. About
thirty ladies and gentlemen filling the po-
sitions of teachers in the public schools
were present, and we have seldom seen a
more intelligent looking body. On the
stage was group of girls and boys from
the Staunton public schools, who, under
the conduct of Dr.. Brown, sang some cho-
ruses most admirably, far better than we
have heard trained choruses of older people.
The exercises were opened with prayer
by Rev. Dr.. Chas. Manley, of the Baptist
church, after which DR.. Hamilton, the Su-
perintendent, expressed his qualification at
the large attendance of teachers, which
promised to be larger at the close OF the
session than at the Institute held last year,
which was the largest eyer held in Vlr-
ginia 1t evinced interest and zeal, and
where these were found, efficiency and sue
REMARKS OF DIR. SEARS.
Rev. DR.. Barnas Sears then addressed
the teachers on the nature and objects OF
Teachers Institutes. The responsibility
of education was, he said, divided. 1t be-
gan with the legislators, who passed laws
for it, and who should be, though they Of
ten were not, in advance OF the people.
They had to encounter the indifference
and ignorance Of the people, and with that
ignorance what is inseparable from it
prejudice. They had to pass wise laws for
it's conduct, and impose heavy taxes for it's
support. He showed the different degrees
of responsibility from the legislator through
the State.Superintendenc which was nota
led of roses, however well filed down to
the school trustee. To get the right men
to fill all these places, he said, was harder
even than to get the funds to support the
| system. The funds once in hand have
! certain value, bnt the men, when they are
gotten, may be the right men or they may
not. They should be men Of nerve, OF
| strong convictions, and the courage to
stand up for what they knew was right.
But, after all, if all these are the right
men in the right place, it is nothing if the
| teachers are not the right men. However
| we'll oilicered and organized the army may
be, it is nothing if the soldiers are not dis
ciplined. The teachers are the soldiers,
and hold the most important positions.
There are various ways and means OF
educating the people of country, but
there are but three for educating the youth
of the land-the family, the church and
the school. These three have their separ-
ate fields, but the school teacher often has
to do his own work, and that of the other
two besides. The family, by neglect, Of
ten RENTS the duty to the teacher, and
but for the teacher the mind would not be
able to take in the benefit of the church to
the same extent it does when educated.
I Teachers could hardly appreciate their own
Importance. Their work is now being STU
died and pondered over by the greatest
minds of the age, who are watching the
workers to find out how far the world is
to be benefited by education. Their work
is not only great, but delicate work.
1t is more delicate than the other profess
sions. The physician diagnoses diseases
Of the body by physical symptoms, while
the teacher has to detect those subtle dis
eases of the mind which undermine and
destroy the character. just as mental
philosophy is more difficult than natural
philosophy so much harder is it to under
stand the mind than the body. 1t is only
few here and there that understand a
child. Children require the keenest obser-
Walton. just as here, at our depot, there
are two rails so close that the crevice can
hardly be discerned, yet if you take one.
you will be carried hundreds of miles in a
direction opposite to that it you had fol-
lowed the other, so it is with children IS
minds, the lines of divergence being SO
infinitely separated. Men have carried up
to mature manhood a feeling ranking in
their breasts. the result of some mistaken
act by their teacher in youth. The costli
ness of the material upon which teachers
work is great. A man who works in iron
may do his work roughly enough, but
those who work in gold and precious stones
must be the mostadelicate artiicers. The
material that the teachers work on is 50
costly that no money can repay blunder.
These delicate artifcers are not ready
made. The mere fact that man is an
educated man does not fit him for teach
Ell, and a man is no more teacher because
he is naturally fitted for it, than lawyer
is a lawyer from natural fitness, and so of
| at no ~ 4
advantage in developing teacher, but
that is all. Teaching is a profession like
others, and must be learned. A good State
superintendent, good trustees, good school
houses, all together, don't make good
teachers, and therefore we have Norma
Schools in which to train them. What
ever else is good, it is the teacher that
makes the school. These Teachers Insti-
tutes are temporary Normal Schools.
They are opportunities for comparing ex-
perience and stating new views OF new in
ventions-for the teacher, by close study
of his work, is as apt to invent improve
ments on it as the mechanical mind is to
invent improvements by inquiring con-
temptation of machinery. Teachers, like
| inventors, are always expei menting, and
it is the result Of these experiments COM
municated to each other that improves
the whole system of education. If teach
ers will only. study their work with this
view, they will be obliged to find out some
thing new. The speaker spoke of the diff
culties Of teachers life, and closed with
description of the reward which awaited
it's noble work in the appreciation and
gratitude Of the growing generation.
| TEACHERS PRESENT.
The following teachers answered to their