The Russellville Democrat., 1884-07-03
ordered printed BY the state Teachers A.so
The Born Teacher.
BY JOSIAH II. sHINN.

MAY lay ~ DOWN as an axiom In
! this discussion, that Teaching is the
most difficult Of all labors, trades or
professions? | think that this will
be granted me by all those who have
tried to teach, as a first principle be-
yond contradiction. And the re
mainder of my auditors will come to
the same conclusion if they will but
place themselves in the attitude OF
careful observers for the short pc
4 riod of twenty gears, scrutinizing
the every movement Of the real
teacher as he takes up the "wHAT
ISN'T that which was designed "NEv-
Err TO BE- and (WHICH CAN NOT be-
and by skillful manipulation turns
Ito wonderful paradox--into the
majestic sIs," "CAN BE-" and will
BE" To take up such raw material
as no other mechanic ever wrought
upon. to work upon it with such
tools as no other mechanic ever saw !;
and to turn off such products of skill
as no other workman ever presented
to an admiring world, is at once the
ne plus ultra Of difficulty and chal
lenges the attention of the world.
TO take up a little. six year old
boy, with head ON his shoulders
like an unsymmetrical hickory knob I;
with hair q golden mean between
white and red all tangled and twist
cd; with face half way between
dirt paste and sickening grin;
squirming, twisting, awkward, rough,
ignorant, IDLE, mean and mischiev-
ous-to take up such specimen Of
the '.EMBRyo"-such type OF the
"dormant germ" and knock all the
knots off the outside and fill the in
side of that head with power to run
a steamboat oridead lock senate !;
Ito turn that hair into sucE style
and proportions rs that even the
dignity of a learned Academy might
envy and initiate; to sublimate that
grin into q geniality idolized by en-
raptured audiences ofthousands and
thousands of polished cisizens;- Ito
ccnvert that dirty face into a kaleid-
oscope of emotions and intelligence
charming and chaining every audit
or;-to put that squirming and twist
ing body through the comic sections
of movement until an evolution is
hegotten so graceful as to be the
focus OF every critical female eye in
every crowd; TO convert that heath
enish awkwardness into civilized
ease;-to transform that roughness
into forms so elegant as that even
Burke might study with pleasure
and everybody initiate with profit
to undermine that ignorance and
supplant it by knowledge almost
co extensive with the universe to
figh: that ldleness with fire and to
plant in the ashes OF its ruins conr
age to labor fourteen years (not for
a wife as Isaac did, but for the re-
alization OF any problem, hope or
/ plan;- eradicate that meanness
and mischief and build thereon a
perfect self control and perfect re-
gard for self and all others; ito take
'srnIs," | say, and make it, THAT"
is little harder work than any
other workman ever tried to do. !
know that the 'THIs" does not always
become the ''TnAT.' but that is not
my fault nor the fault Of any believ-
er in acquired skill' upon the part
of the teacher We are confronted
cverywhere by the phantom "The
Born Teacher" We are told that
the one wLo can do the work have
tried to delineate is born to the
work. Two ideas are abroad sup
porting the ''born teacher theory
The first Is. that the teacher receives
nothing from his antecedents and
acquires nothing from his work or
his contemporaries. The other is,
that the antecedents alone furnish
the power. The first theory may be
called the "Just so'' Analysis. The
other will suffer not il called the.."In-
heritance dogma"
Let us look at the "JusT so' idea
| have heard the arguments Of this
class Of public spirited educated ne
| gasi ms in so many Of our large
cities from the Northern lakes to the
river upon which the city of Roses
stands, that | can truly say that !
understand them and understands
ing them believe ] have honesty
1 pnouph 10 state them fairly. Their