Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-12-30
THE TEACHERS,
Opening of the Minnesota Educational As
ISOLATION Meeting.

Opening of the Minnesota Educational As
ISOLATION Meeting.
The announcement of the meeting of the
State Educational association called oat at
the capitol, in addition to the educators of
the city, quite a large audience of the friends
of education in St. Paul. From abroad among
others, were noticed Supt. Smith. of Mime
apolis; Supt Lord, of Minnesota City: Bry-
ant, of OWatonna; ex-Gov. Austin, Of Fargo;
Prof. Shepard, of the Normal school of Wi
mona, and Prof. Davis, of Rochester.
At O'Clock Prof. Whitman called the
meeting to order, and the exercises COM
menced by singing Praise God from Whom
All Blessings Flow" after which prayer was
offered by Rev. DR.. Conn, of st. Paul, and
then beautiful and appropriate song by
choir led by Prof. Leib. $3.50.
The Office of treasurer being vacant, Prof,
Clarence Bryant was declared treasurer pro
tenn. of the association.
DR.. G. N. Hewitt, of Red Wing, secretary
of the State board of health, was introduced
by the chairman, and read an exhaustive pa
per on "a Study of Some Causes of Physical
Deterioration in the School-teaching and
School going Population.
He spoke of the deterioration of tho physi-
col condition of the American people, stating
the causes as arrived at in the counsels of
the physicians of the country, and said We
must have the hearty cooperation of the
educational people of the land in order to
arrive at proper solution of the problem.
He said hygiene has been az much
hindered by the too sanguine hopes of its
disciples as by the opposition of those who
have: honestly or otherwise, talked, written,
or worked against it. One studies of the
disposal of refuse matter, another the venti-
lation Of buildings, another their construc-
ton and adornment, another artificial light
and heat, another is devoted to the discovery
and exposure of authorizations in food and
drink, another devotes himself to aiding in
the destruction of the causes of epidemic,
etc. After exhausting this part of
the subject, tho speaker de-
voted himself more particularly to
school teachers and school teaching,
an offensive sense, but as doctors and teach
ers, we work on common ground. We are
all teachers, only we look at these things
from different standpoints, and if We had
more pill boxes among the teachers, and
more teachers among the pill boxes. we
would both be better off.
Continual brain work is like tread-mill,
and there is no punishment like the tread
mill punishment. Let the modern pedes-
TRAN put forth the same amount of exertion
in his walk and the exercise is considered a
healthy one.
Among teachers the symptoms of what is
commonly called over work are more COM
mon than anything else. This is not re-
ally over work, but misdirected work. The
teacher should be an extensive reader-a
reader Of daily papers and magazines. This
will expand the mind and draw it away from
the daily routine of the hurry and worry of
the school room. By too close application
in one particular line of duty, We contract
our professional vision, when we should en-
largeit.
Hurry is ono of the quicksands on which
we founder. The pressure behind gives US
no rest. This applies not only to teachers
and pupils, but parents, as we'll. We are
anxious to crowd too much into too small q
space. We hurry the body, and the mind
keeps pace with it, for there is no isolation of
the mind from the body, when at work.
Worry is another quicksand We founder
upon, and bad air is often to blame for it.
The speaker advocated shorter sessions
of school, and thought the half term
system ought to be inaugurated in High
schools for several reasons, one of which was,
that it would allow boys who desired a
chance to devotea portion of their time to
learning trades and gaining an education at
the same time.
At the conclusion Pref. Whitman an
nounced that the citizens generally were in
vited to attend these sessions.
The session will open to day at 9 o'clock
for business, after which paper will be read
by Prof. E. j. Thompson, of the State uni
versity, on "Public High Schools" This
will be followed by one entitled, "Informa-
ton vs.. Culture" by Prof. D. L. Kiehle,
principal of the st. Cloud Normal school.
At II o'clock Prof. L. B. Sperry, NJ. D., of
Carleton college, will read O. paper on "The
best method of teaching Hygiene in the
Common Schools"